Performance in the Imperial Palace

Performance in the Imperial Palace is an original artwork realized by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi (also named Taiso Yoshitoshi; 1839 – 1892) in 1863.

Woodcut print. Signed: Ikkaissai Yoshitoshi ga. Publisher: Seibundo Masakichi. Censorship: Aratame. From the series "Tokaido, Kyoto no uchi" (The Tokaido road, in Kyoto) the sheet "Ouchi no joran zu" (No performance in the imperial palace). Nightly performance outdoors in the palace before guests and courtiers. On stage actor with demon mask and long red wig in dispute with another actor of whom only the drawn sword blade is visible on the left.

Dimensions: 22 x 15 cm. Excellent fresh color impression with bokashi and visible wood grain (bottom), restored stitching holes at right margin, lightly soiled, upper margin trimmed, lightly creased yellowed and rubbed, lower margin soiled. 

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Tsukioka Yoshitoshi (also named Taiso Yoshitoshi; 30 April 1839 – 9 June 1892) was a Japanese printmaker. Yoshitoshi has widely been recognized as the last great master of the ukiyo-e genre of woodblock printing and painting. He is also regarded as one of the form's greatest innovators. His career spanned two eras – the last years of Edo period Japan, and the first years of modern Japan following the Meiji Restoration. Like many Japanese, Yoshitoshi was interested in new things from the rest of the world, but over time he became increasingly concerned with the loss of many aspects of traditional Japanese culture, among them traditional woodblock printing. By the end of his career, Yoshitoshi was in an almost single-handed struggle against time and technology. As he worked on in the old manner, Japan was adopting Western mass reproduction methods like photography and lithography. Nonetheless, in a Japan that was turning away from its own past, he almost singlehandedly managed to push the traditional Japanese woodblock print to a new level, before it effectively died with him.