From the series: Twelve Views of the Four Seasons of Kyoto

Beautiful print, numbered, lovely colors,
Shin Hanga
Nishiki-e

More than 1250 years have passed since the founding of Kiyomizu-dera Temple. Halfway up Mount Otowa, one of the mountains in the Higashiyama range in Kyoto, stands the temple, where a great number of visitors come to honor Kannon, a deity of mercy and compassion, which is why the temple is known as "Kannon's Reijo." "Reijo" means "holy place."


Tomikichiro Tokuriki was a Japanese woodblock printmaker, representing the twelfth generation of a family of Kyoto artisans. He graduated from the Kyoto City School of Fine Arts and the Kyoto City Specialist School of Painting in 1924. After World War II, he founded the Matsukyu publishing company to produce and distribute his own prints as well as Shin Hanga and Sosaku Hanga works by other artists. Tomikichiro Tokuriki was an influential figure in the contemporary print movement in Japan. He was the official artist of the Honganji Temple and was commissioned to engrave various temples throughout Japan, including the famous shrines of Ise. His prints are held in the collections of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and the Museum of Modern Art, New York.