The Floating World

1839–1892

Tsukioka Yoshitoshi月岡芳年

Kuniyoshi’s greatest student became the last great master of the classical print. Yoshitoshi worked as Japan electrified — newspapers, photography, and lithographs eating the woodblock’s world — and answered with his finest work: One Hundred Aspects of the Moon and the New Forms of Thirty-Six Ghosts, made in his final decade against failing health. When he died the old tradition effectively closed.

The workshop

His late series were carved and printed to a standard the dying trade could barely afford, with cartouches designed fresh for each series. Collectors prize the first printings, whose blind-embossed patterns and burnished blacks disappear in later runs.

In the house

Taira no Kiyomori Sees Skulls in the Snowy Garden — Tsukioka YoshitoshiNew Forms of Thirty-Six GhostsTaira no Kiyomori Sees Skulls in the Snowy GardenTsukioka Yoshitoshi · c. 1890Fujiwara no Yasumasa Plays the Flute by Moonlight — Tsukioka YoshitoshiTsukioka YoshitoshiFujiwara no Yasumasa Plays the Flute by MoonlightTsukioka Yoshitoshi · 1883The Cry of the Fox — Tsukioka YoshitoshiOne Hundred Aspects of the MoonThe Cry of the FoxTsukioka Yoshitoshi · 1886 · from $69.00Musashi Plain Moon — Tsukioka YoshitoshiOne Hundred Aspects of the MoonMusashi Plain MoonTsukioka Yoshitoshi · 1892 · from $69.00Chang’e Flees to the Moon — Tsukioka YoshitoshiOne Hundred Aspects of the MoonChang’e Flees to the MoonTsukioka Yoshitoshi · 1885Moon above the Sea at Daimotsu Bay — Benkei — Tsukioka YoshitoshiOne Hundred Aspects of the MoonMoon above the Sea at Daimotsu Bay — BenkeiTsukioka Yoshitoshi · 1886The Moon at Ishiyama — Murasaki Shikibu — Tsukioka YoshitoshiOne Hundred Aspects of the MoonThe Moon at Ishiyama — Murasaki ShikibuTsukioka Yoshitoshi · 1889