Description
Elegant polychrome woodblock print of large vertical format made by the artist Toyohara Kunichika (豊原国周) and taken from the “Kaika sanjuroku kaiseki” (開化三十六會席), a series in which the artist portrays the changing reality that was Tokyo in early Meiji period (明治時代), in tension between tradition and modernity, and which is variously translated as “Thirty-Six Modern Restaurants”, “Thirty-Six Restaurants in New Tokyo” but, also, “Thirty-Six Famous Restaurants and Views of Civilization”.
The work, produced in January 1878 by the publisher Takekawa Seikichi (武川清吉) and by the carver Asai Ginjiro (浅井銀次郎), is dedicated to the Kitsune (狐) restaurant in Shinbashi (新橋) and portrays, from left to right, Komatsu (小松) and Kotomi (小とみ), two entertainers of the Morita (守田) house.
The print on Japanese washi paper (和紙), despite the right signs of aging including slight wrinkles and a partial trimming of the margins, is in good general condition.
