Takeji Asano – Early Spring in Fushimi Kyoto (Asano Takeji – Fushimi Soushun)

Original woodblock print. The first edition of this design was published in 1953. The current print was printed in the Reiwa period (2019 – present).

Here Asano Takeji depicts a scene in the Fushimi ward of Kyoto. The water from the springs in that area are especially suited for brewing Sake and it is a large producer to this very day. The outside of a brewery can be seen, with a series of barrels lined up. On the right a tree is slowly starting to blossom, indicating that the scene shows Fushimi in early spring indeed. As Sake was traditionally brewed during the winter, it should now be ready to enjoyed in early spring too, just like the blossoming flowers.

Image size (excluding margins): 24.0 * 36.0 cm (9.4 * 14.2 in).

The print is in excellent condition.

The pictures shown here are from the print itself.

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Takeji Asano(1900-1999) combines several of the typical activities of 20th century woodblock artists. He was trained at art schools in Kyoto and started out with oil painting. He then transitioned to woodblock printing within the Sōsaku-hanga (creative prints) movement. As such, he created prints from start to finish, drawing, carving and printing them himself. In the 1950 he switched to the process used by the Shin-hanga (new prints) movement which adhered to the division of labor used by traditional ukiyo-e artists. For these prints he only drew and cooperated with carver, printer and publisher to achieve the final result. Later on he turned to a more individualistic and novel style and kept creating until the very last years of his long life.

See an overview of Takeji Asano's woodblock prints