Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849) | The Waterfall at Ono on the Kisokaido (Kisokaido Ono no bakufu) | Edo period, 19th century
Auction Closed
June 11, 03:42 PM GMT
Estimate
40,000 - 60,000 EUR
Lot Details
Description
woodblock print, from the series A Tour of Waterfalls in Various Provinces (Shokoku taki meguri), signed Saki no Hokusai Iitsu hitsu (Brush of Iitsu, the former Hokusai), censor’s seal kiwame (approved), published by Nishimuraya Yohachi (Eijudo), circa 1832
Vertical oban: 38.2 x 26.2 cm, 15 by 10¼ in.
Five travellers pause to gaze at the magnificent cascade of the Ono Waterfall on the Kiso River, near the post-station of Agematsu in Shinano Province (modern day Nagano Prefecture). Viewed from the left, the water appears to surge upward before tumbling down the rock face, while a light blue-grey mist coils around the steep cliff flanks. On a rocky promontory, a small building stands at the edge of the outcropping.
Hokusai included an illustration entitled 'Ono Waterfall, Shinano Province' in volume seven of Hokusai manga (Hokusai's Sketches, 1817). The gazetteer Famous Places on the Kisokaido (1805) illustrates this waterfall and identifies the small building to the lower left as the Ono Teahouse, and the structure at the centre as a shrine dedicated to Fudo Myoo, the Immovable Wisdom King, the deity particularly associated with waterfalls.
A similar impression of the same print is in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art (The MET), accession number JP2925, go to: