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Samurai: Looking On

ca 1900

About the Item

Samurai Warriors Meji 33 ( 1900) Woodblocks Original Hand-Color Woodblock printing flowered in the Edo Period in Japan, mid to late 19th century, and is still considered an art form of great precision and beauty. This style captures both the vitality and life inherent to the flower. Following the artist’s sketch, an image is carved into a block of wood to be transferred to paper in the same manner in which a painter applies his art to a canvas. Black inks form the outline of the flower and color inks are applied following nature’s guide. The woodblock is then pressed to hand-made screened paper which is then hung to dry. This lengthy process of composing a single image can take weeks. These images reflect a quality similar to watercolor and graphite resulting in a stunning and life-like portrayal. Samurai were the military nobility of medieval and early-modern Japan. According to translator William Scott Wilson, "In Chinese, the written character was originally a verb meaning to wait upon or accompany persons in the upper ranks of society.” This is also true of the original term in Japanese, saburau. In both countries the terms were nominalized to mean "those who serve in close attendance to the nobility. According to Wilson, an early reference to the word "samurai" appears in the Kokin Washu (905–914), the first imperial anthology of poems, completed in the first part of the 10th century.[1] By the end of the 12th century, samurai became almost entirely synonymous with bushi, and the word was closely associated with the middle and upper echelons of the warrior class. The samurai followed a set of rules that came to be known as bushido. While the samurai numbered less than 10% of Japan's population,[2] their teachings can still be found today in both everyday life and in modern Japanese martial arts.
  • Creation Year:
    ca 1900
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 17 in (43.18 cm)Width: 19.5 in (49.53 cm)
  • Medium:
    Woodcut
  • Movement & Style:
    Academic
  • Period:
    1900-1909
  • Condition:
    Framed to museum specifications using archival matting, backing, hinging. Hand-cut decorative mat opening. Hand-painted decorative mat opening. Glazed with ultra-violet filtering Plexiglas.
  • Gallery Location:
    Florham Park, NJ
  • Reference Number:
    Seller: 2015 03-18-151stDibs: LU652300692
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