Tokuriki Tomikichiro - Born in Kyoto, Tokuriki Tomikichiro spent his entire career in the city. After initially studying Nihonga or Japanese style painting, Tokuriki switched to woodblock prints in 1924. Although best known for his shin-hanga landscape prints, Tokuriki's real passion was sosaku hanga or creative prints. He enthusiastically promoted sosaku hanga, and set up his own publishing company called Matsuku after WWII to produce his designs as well as those of other artists. He taught block carving and wrote extensively on the subject of woodblock prints, while also exhibiting internationally. His modern sosaku hanga prints are expressive with bold line work and shapes, while his traditional shin-hanga views more closely resemble ink and wash paintings. Tokuriki successfully bridged these two major twentieth-century styles, and was highly influential in the development of younger artists.

Be not defeated by the rain - Interesting design from a series Tokuriki did to illustrate a famous poem by Kenji Miyazawa (1896 - 1933) titled "Ame ni mo makezu" or "Be not defeated by the rain." The poem talks about being a strong, happy individual living a simple life, helping others and expressing concern and empathy. Each print includes lines from the poem with a scene related to the verse. The first time we've seen prints from this series.

Artist - Tokuriki (1902 - 1999)

Image Size - 10 3/4" x 10 3/4"

Condition - This print with nice detail as shown. Some prints have spotting. Please see photos for details.