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Mizuno Toshikata (1866-1908)
Next to an autumnal tree under a waning moon, a young rickshaw driver pauses with his empty vehicle, gazing melancholically to the ground. The round inset picture shows a young female beauty - possibly the beloved girl he is thinking of.
Untitled (Bijin inga kuruma no zu – The beauty and the wheel of fate).
Signature: Ôju Toshikata e. Seals: Shô, Setsu.
Kuchi-e (frontispiece print), from "Bungei Kurabu", Vol. II,12
Publisher: Hakubunkan, Tokyo
Date: 1896
Original Japanese colour woodblock print. Size: Horizontal Aiban, 22,3 x 28,3 cm (overall)
Very good impression and colours, with lustre printing. The usual vertical centrefold, a tiny crease at lower left corner, minimal faint smudges, verso at side margins narrow paper remains from previous attachment, otherwise very nice and fresh condition.
Cf. National Library of Australia, (Clough Collection of kuchie) No. 5744799; Yokohama Museum of Art 91-PRJ-01E-71; ARC Ritsumeikan arcUP6802 ( dated 1898).
Literature: Helen Merritt and Nanako Yamada, Woodblock Kuchi-e Prints, Honolulu 2000.
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