Imasama 12 months Toyokuni

Edoround fanThe picture "Twelve Months in the Imasama Style" was painted in 1822 by Toyokuni I, a master artist in the style of the Utagawa school, and published by the publisherIbasenprinted in multiple colors by the publisherround fanThe print was produced by the publisher as a multicolor print (uchiwa-e) by Toyokuni I, a master artist in the style of the Utagawa school. This is the only surviving woodblock from the original publisher.IbasenThe "Twelve Months in the Modern Style" series was printed and produced by a publisher based on the only existing woodblocks of this series.

Interesting Features of the Twelve Months of Ima-Sama

Shigezo Suzuki (Researcher on Japanese early modern literature and art)

Toyokuni Iround fanThe series of paintings "Twelve Months of Imasama" are,round fanThroughout the history of painting, this series is a unique, significant, and interesting set of works. The series differs from the usual introduction of seasonal scenes in its selection,round fanThe series is different from the usual seasonal genre series in that it takes into account the unique characteristics of the "Jyuuni" form and presents a novel idea that makes the most of this character. In other words, each month'sround fanThe composition of the front and back of each month is organically combined in order to appreciate the result of the composition. The screen can be instantly and easily reversed by simply turning the pattern.round fanThe interesting aspect of this series lies in the compositional design in which the figures are arranged from the front to the back, with a portion of them doubled up, so as to create the illusion of a certain three-dimensional effect.

The harmony of the traditional elegance and the freshness of the idea is not limited to the mere appreciation of the beauty of the paintings, but also provides the enjoyment of what might be described as the spirit of Edo period modeling.