Takahashi Kobo Co., Ltd. SKU: BJ_P_00083

Edo Mokuhanga Tsukioka Yoshitoshi, “One Hundred Phases of the Moon”: Moon at Musashino Plain

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Product Details

PRODUCT DETAILS

A moonlit pause in the grasses of Musashino

Moon at Musashino Plain turns a broad landscape into an intimate encounter. Beneath a luminous full moon, a fox pauses among sweeping pampas grass and watches its reflection in the water. Printed by hand on Echizen kizuki hosho washi, the work rewards both a complete view and close attention to line, color, and paper.

USE & APPRECIATION

A moonlit landscape in everyday spaces

A pause beside the writing desk

Look up from writing and let the moon draw your attention across the room. Below it, the fox and fine grasses invite a slower second look, giving a desk-side pause a story beyond the day's work.

A woman at a wooden writing desk looking at the framed Moon at Musashino Plain print on the wall.

Notice the scene as you pass

Place the print where you can stop briefly as you move through the room. Its large moon reads at a distance, while the fox beneath the grasses rewards the closer attention of an unplanned pause.

A woman standing beside Moon at Musashino Plain displayed above a stone topped console with books and a bowl.

Find a considered place for the image

Take time to choose a place where the whole composition can be enjoyed. The pale moon, dark grasses, and curling fox balance one another, bringing a small, self-contained night scene into an everyday interior.

A woman positioning the framed Moon at Musashino Plain print on a wooden console against a pale wall.

Let pale surroundings reveal the lines

Use a pale indoor wall to give the print breathing room, away from direct sunlight. Fine grass lines remain distinct against the light surroundings, inviting you to move from the bold moon to the quieter details below.

Moon at Musashino Plain displayed above a wooden cabinet with a vase, books, and a shallow bowl against a pale wall.

Bring the moon forward against a dark wall

Set the image against a darker wall for a more intimate evening corner. The moon becomes an immediate point of light within the composition, drawing you toward the fox and its reflection as you look longer.

The framed Moon at Musashino Plain print on a dark wall above a console with a vase and books.

Make room among favorite books

Make room for the print among books you return to often. Its moonlit landscape offers a visual pause between reading, while the fine lines of the grasses give you something new to notice at close range.

Moon at Musashino Plain displayed upright on a wooden bookshelf beside books, a bowl, and a vase.

OBJECT PASSPORT / CARE & USE

Care & Handling

Care guide for Moon at Musashino Plain: keep the print indoors; outdoor display is not permitted.

Keep this print indoors; outdoor display is not permitted.

OBJECT PASSPORT

Product details

Dimensions
225 × 330 (335 × 480) mm
Material
Washi (Echizen kizuki hosho paper)
Product weight
133 g
Origin
Japan

This work is a traditional hand-printed Edo woodblock print.

The English title is Moon at Musashino Plain, from Tsukioka Yoshitoshi's series One Hundred Phases of the Moon.

A fox grooms itself among pampas grass and watches its reflection on water illuminated by the full moon.

Craft Heritage

CRAFT HERITAGE

Craft Heritage

Edo Mokuhanga developed from early monochrome prints that were colored by hand in styles known as tan-e, beni-e, and urushi-e. Printers later began using separate woodblocks for color, producing two- and three-color beni-zuri-e prints.

By 1765, gold, silver, and intermediate tones could also be printed from woodblocks, establishing the multicolor format. The carving and printing techniques developed during the Edo period have been refined and passed down to the present day.

How It’s Made

TRADITIONAL CRAFT PROCESS

How It’s Made

About the Making Process

Edo Mokuhanga is created through the coordinated work of a carver and a printer.
The carver cuts the design into natural cherry blocks.
The printer aligns handmade washi to the registration marks, applies pigment, and rubs the back of the paper with a baren.
The depth of the carving and the amount of pigment both affect the result, requiring precise adjustments from each specialist.
Multicolor works are built up one block at a time and may require more than 30 impressions.

1. Carving
  • The outlines of the original drawing are transferred to the key block and carved along the ink lines with a small knife. Nonprinting areas are cleared with chisels.
  • Two registration marks, kagi-kento and hikitsuke-kento, are carved into the block to ensure that the paper is positioned consistently.
  • Using a proof from the key block as a guide, the area required for each color is carved with knives or chisels on a separate color block. Cherry is used for the printing blocks.
2. Printing
  • A small, broom-shaped tool called a tokibo transfers pigment to the block, and a brush spreads it evenly. Handmade hosho washi is positioned against the registration marks.
  • A baren is rubbed firmly over the back of the paper, pressing the pigment deep into its fibers.
  • The color blocks are printed in sequence from lighter to darker colors. Some works require more than 30 separate impressions.
  • The printer adjusts the amount of pigment applied to the block in response to changes in temperature and humidity.
Meet the Maker

MEET THE MAKER

Meet the Maker

MAKER · BUNKYO, TOKYO

Color, Registered by Hand

At Takahashi Kobo, Edo woodblock printing is not treated as a historical image separated from its making. It remains a coordinated practice in which an artist's design, a carver's blocks, a printer's hand, and a publisher's direction meet on washi.

Portrait of a woman in a black top, with wood lattice screens and framed prints behind her.
Yukiko Takahashi, Sixth Generation

Takahashi Kobo was founded during Japan's Ansei era, between 1855 and 1860. The Takahashi family inherited the work of printers, and from the fourth generation also assumed the role of publisher—the person responsible for planning a work and coordinating the specialists who bring it into being.

Sixth-generation representative Yukiko Takahashi learned printing from her father before taking charge of the workshop. Her work extends from the reproduction of ukiyo-e to collaborations with contemporary artists, designers, architects, and animators. The workshop also develops projects that combine the transmission of technique with the training of younger craftspeople.

Many Hands, One Impression

Edo woodblock printing depends on a division of labor. An artist supplies the image. A carver separates its colors and cuts the required cherry-wood blocks. A printer places pigment on each block and transfers the layers to washi. A publisher directs the sequence and holds the complete work together.

The printer aligns the paper to registration marks called kentō and generally works from lighter areas toward deeper ones. Moisture in the paper, the balance of water, pigment, and paste, the pressure and movement of the baren, and the timing of each impression determine whether the colors meet cleanly and how the surface appears. Woodblock printing techniques include bokashi, which creates gradation through controlled handling of pigment on the block, and karazuri and kimedashi, which create relief in the paper without printed color. Alongside the layering of colors, this craft preserves a range of ways to work with the texture of washi.

A Tradition Made Useful Again

The workshop continues to reproduce historic prints, but it also develops new ways for woodblock culture to be encountered through contemporary images and objects. That activity is not a departure from the tradition's structure. Edo prints were themselves products of collaboration, publishing, and the visual culture of their time. Takahashi Kobo carries that structure forward by asking what should be printed now, who should be involved, and how the craft can remain intelligible to a new audience.

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