YASUDA RAISHU: (21.7 x 26.8cm. ea.); eight copperplate engravings illustrating thirty-two stations of the Tokaido, here mounted in pairs on four pages, each plate comprising four small landscape panels from the series Tokaido gojusan eki zu "Illustrations of the fifty-three stations of the Tokaido", each titled in Japanese and all but Goyu also in Roman script, Hiratsuka [sheet 2] signed Raishu sei and Goyu [sheet 7] signed Edo Raishu--very good impressions, paper slightly toned, soiled and with vertical creases, laid down, the first, second, seventh and eighth sheet stained

Details

YASUDA RAISHU: (21.7 x 26.8cm. ea.); eight copperplate engravings illustrating thirty-two stations of the Tokaido, here mounted in pairs on four pages, each plate comprising four small landscape panels from the series Tokaido gojusan eki zu "Illustrations of the fifty-three stations of the Tokaido", each titled in Japanese and all but Goyu also in Roman script, Hiratsuka [sheet 2] signed Raishu sei and Goyu [sheet 7] signed Edo Raishu--very good impressions, paper slightly toned, soiled and with vertical creases, laid down, the first, second, seventh and eighth sheet stained

Contents of each sheet as follows:

Sheet 1: Edo Nihonbashi "Nihonbashi, Edo"; Shinagawa kaichu yori Shinagawa shuku o miru no kei "View of Shinagawa station from the sea at Shinagawa"; Rokugo no watashi yori Kawasaki shuku ni itaru kei "View from Rokugo ferry to Kawasaki station"; Kanagawa juku "Kanagawa station"

Sheet 2: Hodogaya; Totsuka; Fujisawa; and Hiratsuka [mis-titled in Roman script Totsuka], signed Raishu sei

Sheet 3: Oiso; Sakawagawa yori Odawara o miru kei "View of Odawara station from the Sakawa River; Hakone; and Mishima
Sheet 4: Suruga no kuni Numazu "Numazu in Suruga province"; Suruga no kuni Hara "Hara in Suruga province"; Suruga no kuni Yoshiwara, hidari ni Fuji o miru kei "View of Fuji from the left, Yoshiwara in Suruga province"; and Suruga no kuni Fujikawa watashi yori Kambara juku ni itaru no kei "View of Kambara station from the ferry at Fujikawa in Suruga province"

Sheet 5: Kanaya, Sayo no nakayama "Sayo mountain pass at Kanaya"; Nissaka; Kakegawa; and Fukuroi

Sheet 6: Mitsuke, Tenryugawa "Tenryu River at Mitsuke"; Hamamatsu; Maisaka, Imagiri "Imagiri at Maisaka"; and Arai

Sheet 7: Shirasuka Shiomizaka "Shiomi hill at Shirasuka"; Futagawa Hiuchizaka "Hiuchi hill at Futagawa; Yoshida Yoshidabashi "Yoshida Bridge at Yoshida"; and Goyu, signed Edo Raishu next to the title

Sheet 8: Akasaka; Fujikawa; Okazaki Yahagibashi "Yahagi Bridge at Okazaki"; and Chiryu (4)

Literature

Yoshida Eiji, Ukiyo-e jiten (Tokyo: Gabundo, 1974)
Hosono Masanobu, Kokan to Denzen, Nihon no bijutsu, no. 232 (Tokyo: Shibundo, 1985)

Lot Essay

Copperplate printing was introduced to Japan in Tenmei 3 (1783) by the Dutch at Nagasaki. It was used first by Shiba Kokan (1747-1818) and Aodo Denzen (1748-1822). Yasuda Raishu (fl. 1818-59), who was a student of Hokusai, started painting in Western style from the early Bunsei period (1818-29) just after Kokan's death and Denzen's retirement. Raishu's prints are much more Westernized than those of Kokan and Denzen. This series was published in 1844.

For another impression see: Yofu hanga no donyu "Development of Western Realism in Japan" (Tokyo: The National Museum of Modern Art Tokyo, 1985), p. 89