Background
Tokuriki Tomikichirô was born in Kyoto. He graduated from the Kyoto City School of Fine Arts and Crafts and the Kyoto City Specialist School of Painting in 1924. He also studied nihonga (Japanese-style painting: 日本画) at the private school of Tsuchida Bakusen (1887-1936) and with Yamamoto Shunkyo (1871-1933). From 1929 Tokuriki focused on mokuhanga (block prints: 木版画), and he also actively promoted sôsaku hanga ("creative prints": 創作版画) in Kyoto. He published many sets and series before World War II, and afterwards established the Matsukyû Publishing Co. to produce and distribute his prints and through its subdivision, Kôrokusha, to publish self-carved and self-printed hanga as well as works by other artists such as Kotozuka Eiichi (1906-1979), Takahashi Tasaburô (1904-1977), and Kamei Tôbei (1901-1977). For much of his long life Tokuriki taught many artisans and artists, some of them non-Japanese, and he traveled extensively, thus his influence was significant in the world of hanga. He is perhaps best known to Westerners through his many print designs in the shin hanga ("new prints": 新版画) manner for various series published by the three main Kyoto firms — Uchida, Unsôdô, and Kyoto Hanga-in — but his self-carved, self-printed sôsaku hanga are more highly considered by collectors and curators. The artist recognized this dichotomy, saying, "I'd rather do nothing but creative prints, but after all, I sell maybe ten of them against two hundred for a publisher-artisan print."
Aso-jinja (Aso Shrine: 阿蘇神社) is situated in what was ancient Higo Province (肥後国 now called Kumamoto-ken, i.e., Kumamoto Prefecture, 熊本県) on the island of Kyûshû (lit., "nine provinces": 九州). The shrine was a center of worship before the accession of the first emperor of Japan, Jinmu-tennô (神武天皇), c. 660 BC. The original location of the shrine is uncertain, however, as it was destroyed and rebuilt many times in or near the crater of Aso-zan (Mount Aso: 阿蘇山), the largest active volcano in Japan and one the largest in the world. The present buildings date from the Tenpô era (1830–1843). Dedicated to the veneration of Tateiwatatsu no Mikoto, a grandson of Japan's first emperor, Jinmu-tennô, Aso-jinja was the chief Shinto shrine of old Higo Province. From 1871 through 1946, the shrine was designated one of the Kanpei-taisha (官幣大社), placing it in the first rank of government-supported shrines. The spirit of Aso (Aso no Ôkami) has been worshipped from ancient times as the guardian deity of safety in navigation. Today, Aso no Ôkami is popular as a god protecting worshippers from traffic accidents, among other mishaps.
Design
Higo no Asao-jinja is no. 8 in the series Seichi shiseki meisho (Scenes of Sacred Places and Historic Landmarks: 聖地史蹟名勝). Published by Uchida on Sept. 20, 1941, the 50-print set features scenes from Japan's historic shrines, temples, castles, and other man-made and natural structures like bridges and waterfalls. The set was republished in 1988, but was machine printed.
The block is carved on both sides, with the keyblock design on one and an additional line block on the other for the inscription and seal plus two line forms for the upper central part of the shrine.
Trial proofs were often treated somewhat roughly by the printers, resulting in condition issues, as with the two examples in the present set; however, the published print, also included here, is in very good condition. Original blocks are exceedingly rare. A number of Tokuriki's blocks came on the market in recent years, this being one of them.
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