Edutainment > Moon and Smoke

Design number 22 of the series One Hundred Aspects of the Moon by Tsukioka (Taiso) Yoshitoshi. It is titled Moon and Smoke, or Enchu no tsuki in Japanese.

Design No. 22

One Hundred Aspects of the Moon - Moon and Smoke
Yoshitoshi Tsukioka, 1839-1892
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Moon and Smoke - by Yoshitoshi

The above image shows an original woodblock print from the first, single-sheet edition.

The design shows a fire fighter in protective garment in front of a raging fire. He holds a standard (in Japanese: 'matoi') in his left hand. To the right, in the lower part of the image, one can see another fireman as a shadow in the far distance standing on top of a house roof. The two men seem to communicate with their standards.

Firefighters in old Japan were regarded as a wild bunch. They were organized in groups that competed with each other and identified themselves with their 'matois'. Common people in Edo regarded Edo fire fighters as even more dangerous than the fires.

Fires were a major problem in old Edo (today Tokyo) and in other larger towns and cities of old Japan. Most houses were built of wood and paper and stood close to each other. To prevent fires, special watch-towers were manned at night. The towns were segregated into small quarters that were surrounded by wooden palisades. The gates were closed at night.

When a fire broke out, the job of the firemen was primarily directed towards preventing the fires to spread further. Therefore the firefighters disrupted the still intact houses next to the fires.

The design was first published in February 1986. It is the number 22 of the series. Publisher was Akiyama Buemon.

More Images for Moon and Smoke by Yoshitoshi

Here are a few more images of sold prints of this design for your comparison. Please note that the colors usually do not show a hundred percent true image.

The images show how different each print copy may come out. The differences are caused by condition, the individual impression and the "edition". The large majority of the sheets available in the market are from the album edition that was published by Akiyama Buemon after the death of Yoshitoshi. These albums are bought by dealers who then cut them apart into single sheets. In contrast to the first (single-sheet) edition, the album edition has a thick paper backing, also called Meiji backing. Sometimes the Meiji backing is removed. Thus, one cannot always assess the edition from the paper condition.

A typical condition problem for this design is oxidization in the area of the fire.

This design is among the rare and expensive ones.

Design No. 22

Archive for
Moon and Smoke
Yoshitoshi Tsukioka
copyright protected

Design No. 22

Tsuki Hyakushi
copyright protected

Design No. 22

Yoshitoshi Tsukioka
1839-1892
Biography
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Design No. 22

One Hundred Aspects of the Moon
copyright protected

For larger images, detailed descriptions and achieved prices of sold woodblock prints by Yoshitoshi for Moon and Smoke, please search our archive of sold prints for Moon and Smoke - Yoshitoshi.

John Stephenson - One Hundred Aspects of the Moon

The complete series was published in an excellent book with full page illustrations and excellent descriptions and background information by John Stevenson.

John Stevenson, "One Hundred Aspects of the Moon", published by Avery Press, 600 Kalmia Avenue, Boulder, CO 80304, ISBN 0-9632218-0-9. See plate No. 12.

Dieter Wanczura
(March 2009)

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