After Nagamachi Chikuseki (1757-1806) – Flying Kingfisher and Reed

Japanese woodblock print. Nagamachi Chikuseki had long passed away when the first edition of this design was published circa 1900. At various places, the year is listed as 1908, but this cannot be correct, as the design had already been part of the British Museum’s collection since 1906. The current print is from a second edition, most likely published in the 1910s or very early 1920s. As was common in those days, there are some differences with the first edition (and with the third edition, published by Kawaguchi).

The design captures a female kingfisher flying low and at high speed past reeds. It is a rare design and one of the best from the series of Nagamachi Chikuseki designs published by Daikokuya in the early 1900s.

Publisher: Daikokuya

Image size (excluding margins): 23.8 * 24.7 cm (9.4 * 9.7 in).

The print is in good state. There are remnants of a previous mounting on the back in the corners and a small note is present in the lower right corner.

The pictures shown here are from the print itself.

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Nagamachi Chikuseki (1757 – 1806) was a Japanese painter. In the early 20th century, woodblock print publisher Daikokuya published a number of woodblock prints based on his designs. The true artistic background of these designs is sometimes obscured by a now widely repeated, mistake in naming, whereby instead of the correct Nagamachi Chikuseki, the incorrect Hirose Chikuseki was used.

See an overview of Nagamachi Chikuseki's woodblock prints