Lot Essay
According to Henry Smith, the last print, To-kei, block-dated 1876.8, was re-carved and re-issued around 1920 by its original publisher, Matsuki Heikichi, at the request of Murakami Yutaka, an avid collector of work by Kiyochika. The original version has several features that do not appear in the later printing. A barely discernible well to the left of the woman on the far shore has been removed in the newer version and a small "W" in "View" at the bottom is corrected in size. See Henry D. Smith II, Kiyochika: Artist of Meiji Japan, exh. cat. [Santa Barbara: Santa Barbara Museum of Art, 1988], p. 25. For an example of the original version, see pl. 12).