Takahashi Kobo Co., Ltd. SKU: BJ_P_00082

Edo Mokuhanga Tsukioka Yoshitoshi, “One Hundred Views of the Moon”: The bottom of the bucket Chiyono is holding has a hole; if the water doesn’t pool, the moon won’t dwell there

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Product Details

PRODUCT DETAILS

A moon, a broken bucket, and one suspended moment

This Edo Mokuhanga print presents Lady Chiyono from Tsukioka Yoshitoshi's One Hundred Phases of the Moon. A full moon remains above as water escapes from a fallen bucket below. Traditionally hand printed on Echizen kizuki hosho washi, the vertical work brings narrative, line, color, and paper into a quietly absorbing indoor display.

USE & APPRECIATION

Living with Yoshitoshi's moonlit scene

An evening pause beside the print

Settle into an evening chair with Chiyono's story within view. The moon, fallen bucket, and softly colored figure reward a pause between pages, bringing a narrative to the room that unfolds with closer attention.

A woman seated beside a framed Yoshitoshi print of Chiyono on a blue wall in a lamplit reading corner.

Take time to look closely

Bring the framed print close when you want to explore its finer details. Lines in the robe and the water beneath the bucket give the hand-printed image a rhythm worth following, beyond its first impression from across the room.

A woman looking closely at the framed Yoshitoshi print of Chiyono, standing upright on a wooden table.

A quiet focus above pale stone

Give the print a quiet indoor place above pale stone, away from direct sunlight. Its blue sky and pink robe stand clearly against restrained surroundings, letting the story become the focus without a crowded display.

The framed Yoshitoshi print of Chiyono displayed on a pale stone console beside a small vase and books.

Let a reading corner echo the colors

Keep the image near a favorite reading chair and echo its blue tones with a cushion or cloth. The figure and moon offer a different point of attention when you look up, connecting a familiar corner with the pleasure of looking.

The framed Yoshitoshi print of Chiyono above a wooden cabinet beside books, flowers, and a chair with blue textiles.

Give the moonlit story a place in the evening

Let the print accompany an unhurried evening in a softly lit room. Chiyono's still figure and the broken bucket hold a moment of change, offering a story to revisit as part of everyday life.

The framed Yoshitoshi print of Chiyono above a wooden console with a vase, shallow bowl, and books in warm evening light.

OBJECT PASSPORT / CARE & USE

Care & Handling

Care guide for the Lady Chiyono woodblock print: display and appreciate the work indoors.

This work is intended for indoor display.

OBJECT PASSPORT

Product details

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

This woodblock print belongs to Tsukioka Yoshitoshi's series One Hundred Phases of the Moon. Its subject is Lady Chiyono at the moment the bottom of her water bucket gives way and the reflected full moon disappears.

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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