Japanese Woodblock Print, Originally published c.1884-9, this later printing from original blocks published by Heibonsha of Tokyo in Showa 43 (1968)

SIZE IN INCHES: print 7 x 4.75 inches; folder 9 x 7 inches

YASUJI INOUE (1864-1889) was Kobayashi Kiyochika's (1847-1915) only true disciple. He was born in 1864 as the son of a dry-goods merchant in Asakusa, and is said to have begun as an apprentice in the atelier of Tsukioka Yoshitoshi (1839-1892). The story goes that Yasuji encountered Kiyochika one snowy day (probably in the winter of 1878-79) sketching a Sumida River landscape. After watching the artist for some two hours in silence, Yasuji struck up a conversation and in short order asked Kiyochika to take him on as a disciple.

By the time Kiyochika gave up Western-style landscapes in 1881, Yasuji had designed only eight prints in his own name, but he perpetuated his master’s style over the next three years, particularly in the format of small postcard-size prints, reaching a total of 134 by 1884, with his best known series of small prints being titled Tokyo meisho (Famous Views of Tokyo). He also created prints that were nearly identical to those of Kiyochika’s.

Like his master, Yasuji would produce several versions of the same print, for instance, one at daylight and one at night. Yasuji’s landscape work has a greater clarity than that of his teacher, and tends to be less dramatic or sentimental. In 1884, however, he completely abandoned this style and turned to conventional nishiki-e triptychs depicting the sights and events of the day in the traditional heroic style, working under the name of Tankei, which the publisher Matsuki Heikichi bestowed on him in 1884. His death on September 14, 1889, at the age of twenty-five, is said to have greatly distressed Kiyochika. Roberts, in his Dictionary of Japanese Artists, comments: "Had he not died so young, [he] might have revived the ukiyo-e school."

VG with flaws as shown