Edo Mokuhanga Tsukioka Yoshitoshi, “One Hundred Views of the Moon”: Moon Amid Smoke
The vertical woodblock print displayed with generous open wall space in a restrained contemporary interior.
A woman holding the framed Moon Amid Smoke print upright on a wooden table.
Moon Amid Smoke displayed above a wooden console with a vase, bowl, books, and folded cloth.
The framed Moon Amid Smoke print displayed in a pale stone recess beside a small ceramic bowl.
Moon Amid Smoke displayed upright beside a wooden bookcase with art books, a bowl, and a vase.
Edo Mokuhanga Tsukioka Yoshitoshi, “One Hundred Views of the Moon”: Moon Amid Smoke
The vertical woodblock print displayed with generous open wall space in a restrained contemporary interior.
A woman holding the framed Moon Amid Smoke print upright on a wooden table.
Moon Amid Smoke displayed above a wooden console with a vase, bowl, books, and folded cloth.
The framed Moon Amid Smoke print displayed in a pale stone recess beside a small ceramic bowl.
Moon Amid Smoke displayed upright beside a wooden bookcase with art books, a bowl, and a vase.
Takahashi Kobo Co., Ltd. SKU: BJ_P_00084

Edo Mokuhanga Tsukioka Yoshitoshi, “One Hundred Views of the Moon”: Moon Amid Smoke

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Product Details

PRODUCT DETAILS

Stillness held against the flames

Moon Amid Smoke brings a motionless town firefighter into a field of surging yellow and vermilion flame. This contemporary reproduction by Takahashi Kobo presents Tsukioka Yoshitoshi's design from One Hundred Views of the Moon on Echizen kizuki hosho washi. The image measures 225 by 330 millimeters, giving the dramatic vertical composition a focused presence.

USE & APPRECIATION

Living with Moon Amid Smoke

Space around a concentrated scene

Give the print room above a simple console and let its color lead the setting. The still firefighter and sweeping flames create a concentrated contrast, bringing energy to a calm interior without filling it with objects.

The vertical woodblock print displayed with generous open wall space in a restrained contemporary interior.

Take a closer look at the contrast

Bring the image close to explore the contrast between the firefighter's patterned coat and the flames. The hand-printed lines and yellow-vermilion color reward careful looking, turning a dramatic first impression into a richer encounter.

A woman holding the framed Moon Amid Smoke print upright on a wooden table.

A vivid focus above the console

Let the print provide the vivid accent in a restrained indoor arrangement. Against wood and simple ceramics, the firefighter's dark silhouette remains clear amid the flames, giving the room a story as well as color.

Moon Amid Smoke displayed above a wooden console with a vase, bowl, books, and folded cloth.

Give the composition a quiet recess

Choose a quiet recess where you can take in the image without distraction. The surrounding pale space emphasizes the tension between the unmoving figure and the fire, inviting a deliberate pause in passing.

The framed Moon Amid Smoke print displayed in a pale stone recess beside a small ceramic bowl.

Connect the image with a reading space

Place the print near books for a corner that encourages curiosity. Its striking scene can draw you away from the page for a moment, then invite a closer look at the firefighter and the banner above him.

Moon Amid Smoke displayed upright beside a wooden bookcase with art books, a bowl, and a vase.

OBJECT PASSPORT / CARE & USE

Care & Handling

Care guide for Moon Amid Smoke: handle with clean, dry hands, support the washi, avoid rubbing, water, high humidity, and prolonged direct sunlight.

Handle the sheet with clean, dry hands and support it evenly. For longer display, keep it indoors and limit exposure to direct sunlight, water, and high humidity. Avoid rubbing or pressing the printed surface.

OBJECT PASSPORT

Product details

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

The figure is a town firefighter from the I Brigade, standing on a burning roof with his matoi standard held aloft. Standard bearers hurried to a fire and stood near its center to mark where help was needed. Although they normally waved the standard vigorously, Yoshitoshi holds this figure still, creating a deliberate contrast with the violent movement of the flames.
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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