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Rain at Asakusa Kannon Temple
by Tsuchiya Koitsu (1870-1949)

Original caretaker of this artwork: eBay

	Artist:	Tsuchiya Koitsu (1870-1949) — 土屋光逸
	Title:	Rain at Asakusa Kannon Temple
	Series:	Tokyo Views — 東京風景
	Date 1st edition?:	1933/6
	Date of this artwork?:	1933 (may not be accurate)
	Publisher 1st edition?:	Doi Sadaichi — 土井貞一
	Publisher (this edition)?:	Doi Sadaichi — 土井貞一
	Medium (1st edition):	Woodblock
	Medium (this edition):	Woodblock
	Format (1st edition):	Oban
	Format (this edition):	Oban
	DB artwork code:	45112
	Notes (1st edition)?:	Artist: Tsuchiya Koitsu (1870-1949) Title: Asakusa Kannondo (early edition) Dated: 1933 Published by: Doi Sadaichi Seal: Shin Size: Oban (15.5" x 10.5") This scene often suffers from the lovely but highly fugitive green hues fading to blues. This problem is common to many Doi-published prints that use green inks. A classic example of this fading can be seen here. If the hues of the tree foliage in your print are a blue/aqua shade then your print suffers from fading. I have seen no evidence that suggests blue foliage hues were a printing variation.
	Notes (this edition)?:	The following information was taken from the original web listing of this artwork. Often written by non-experts, there may be inaccuracies: Tsuchiya KOITSU 1870-1949. Original woodblock print. "Rain at Asakusa Kannon Temple". 1933, 1st edition. Publisher Doi Sadaichi, offset seals Katsumura carver, Goto printer. Very good impression, finely carved, very good colors, overall good to very good, condition issues above. See pictures. Oban, 10.3 x 15.4 inches, very rare first printing. Note: Here e can see a classic example of the Doi green inks fading to blue (see the original green hues at the right edge of the image area).
	Artist Bio:	Born in 1870 near Hamamatsu City (Shizuoka Prefecture) with the name "Sahei", Koitsu moved to Tokyo at the age of fifteen. He had planned to apprentice with Matsuzaki, a carver for the artist Kobayashi Kiyochika, but instead, he became Kiyochika's apprentice and moved into his home to study art and print design. It is through Kiyochika that Koitsu gained his trademark skill in the subtle use of light and shadow for his landscape prints. Koitsu lived with Kiyochika for 19 years and was considered more a member of Kiyochika's family than an apprentice. He worked and studying with Kiyochika until around Meiji 36 (1903). In Taisho 11 (1922) he moved to his wife's place of birth in Chigasaki City and lived there until his death. Although Koitsu first designed woodblock prints during the Sino-Japanese war (1894-1895), and later worked as a lithographer (around 1897 to 1905), he only really became a successful artist after his chance-meeting with Watanabe Shozaburo, the founder of the shin hanga print movement, at an exhibition of Kiyochika's works in 1931 that marked the anniversary of Kiyochika's death. In 1932 he started to produce landscape prints in the shin hanga style for Watanabe, the first being titled 'Cherry Blossom Viewing at Gion', and he went on to design a total of ten prints for Watanabe. He later designed prints for various publishers including Doi Sadaichi (known incorrectly in the West as Doi Teiichi), and a few prints for Kawaguchi, the Kyoto publisher Baba Nobuhiko, the publisher Tanaka Shobido, and the publisher Takemura. Around the same time that Tsuchiya Koitsu began his shin hanga career, another artist by the name of Ishiwata Koitsu was also pursuing a career as a shin-hanga landscape artist. Despite sharing the same given name "Koitsu", the two men were not related. Their works are sometimes confused since both artists signed their works "Koitsu". However, the styles of their woodblock prints are quite distinctive, as are their seals. 明治03年（1870年）　静岡県浜松市に生まれる　姓土屋　名は光一　 明治18年（1885年）　15歳の時に上京し、始めは木版彫刻師の弟子になる 明治19年「1886年）　小林清親に入門（以降明治37年までの30年間、小林家で家族同様に生活の苦を共にする） 明治28年（1895年）　代表作として日清戦争を描いた「講和使談判之図」や「万々歳凱旋之図」などがあげられ、色彩も温和である 明治31年（1898年）　石版画を版行した版元として松聲堂から明治37年（1904年）に版行された「教育歴史画」第一輯から第三輯など 明治35年（1902年）　から明治36年（1903年）に版行された「教育立身画」などの石版画の作例あり 昭和05年（1930年）　東京尚美堂から発表した木版画として横三つ切判「宮島」、「天の橋立」、「松島」などがある 昭和07年（1932年）　渡辺版画店から新版画「祇園の夜桜」、「大阪城の月夜」の2点を版行 昭和08年（1933年）　土井版画店より細判風景画「奈良猿沢の池」、「雪の堅田浮見堂」（東京国立近代美術館所蔵）、「日比谷の月」、「弁慶橋」などあり 昭和11年（1936年）　「東京風景十二枚」を同じく土井版画店より版行しており、清親ばりの風景版画を残した 昭和11年（1936年）　9月、「下関観月橋」を馬場信彦のもとから発表した後、昭和16年6月まで大判16枚などの作品を版行した 昭和16年（1941年）　頃まで東京尚美堂、酒井川口合板、カワグチ商会など各版元から新版画の作品を発表していった 昭和24年（1949年）　11月、79歳で没した　明治時代から昭和時代にかけての浮世絵師、版画家