Original 1896 Toshiaki Woodblock Print "Nihon Mokei" Imperial Palace Mounted Officer LS#216

Nakazawa Toshiaki (中澤年章) — 日本摸景 (Nihon Mokei, "Sketches of Japan") — Meiji 29 (1896)

A refined single-sheet woodblock print from the series 日本摸景 (Nihon Mokei — "Sketches of Japan") by Nakazawa Toshiaki, a student of Yoshitoshi and one of the more accomplished Meiji-period print artists working in the mid-1890s. The composition presents a rear view of a mounted officer in full Meiji military dress uniform — black coat with gold and red trim, epaulettes, and a plumed cap — astride a pale horse before the moat and bridge of the Imperial Palace in Tokyo. The palace buildings and earthwork walls recede into a pale dawn sky rendered in subdued grey-green tones, with distant mounted figures visible across the plaza. A gas lamp standard at left marks the modernity of Meiji Tokyo. The bold, richly colored foreground figure set against a delicately atmospheric background reflects the Western compositional influence absorbed by Yoshitoshi's circle, here applied to a quintessentially Meiji subject — the modernized imperial military in its new capital setting. Signed 年章 with red seal; second seal 祥月刀. Published by Hattori Hyakuroku (服部百録), Shōdondō (松鈍堂), Kyoto, March 15, Meiji 29 (1896).

• Title: 日本摸景 (Nihon Mokei — "Sketches of Japan")
• Artist: Nakazawa Toshiaki (中澤年章, 1864–1921)
• Publisher: Hattori Hyakuroku (服部百録), Shōdondō (松鈍堂), Kyoto
• Date: Meiji 29 (1896), March 15
• Format: Oban — approximately 14" × 9.5" (36 × 24 cm)

Good; slight age-related discoloration to paper. Bleed-through from printing visible on reverse, normal for this type of production. No tears or creases noted. Colors in the foreground figure remain strong.

A handsome example of late Meiji print production by a student of Yoshitoshi — the Imperial Palace setting, modernized military uniform, and atmospheric treatment make this a distinctive document of Meiji Tokyo at its height.