CHIYODA NO O-OKU (WOMEN'S QUARTERS OF CHIYODA CASTLE), FROM THE SERIES "CHIYODA CASTLE" (ALBUM OF WOMEN)circa 1895 Framed triptych of Japanese woodblock prints by Yoshu (Hashimoto) Chikanobu, depicting elegant women of the shogun's inner palace at Chiyoda (Edo) Castle in richly patterned kimono of red, blue, and orange, engaged in genteel pastimes of court life. Each sheet bears the artist's seal and characters identifying the series title; presented together framed. $200-300
ARTIST PROFILE: Yoshu (Hashimoto) Chikanobu (Japanese, 1838–1912). Born Hashimoto Naoyoshi in Echigo Province (present-day Niigata Prefecture), Chikanobu began life as a retainer of the Sakakibara clan and fought as a Tokugawa loyalist during the Boshin War, including the Battle of Ueno and the final stand at Hakodate's Goryokaku fort. Following the shogunate's defeat, he turned to art to earn his living, moving to Tokyo around 1875, where he trained successively under a disciple of Keisai Eisen, then Utagawa Kuniyoshi, Utagawa Kunisada, and finally Toyohara Kunichika, from whom he adopted the surname Toyohara. Working under the name Yoshu Chikanobu, he became one of the most prolific and celebrated woodblock print designers of the Meiji era, producing over a thousand designs spanning historical battles, kabuki actors, Japanese mythology, and contemporary events such as the Sino-Japanese War. He is best remembered today as a master of "bijin-ga" (pictures of beautiful women), particularly his nostalgic depictions of the vanished world of the Tokugawa court and shogunal palace, most famously in his acclaimed series on the Chiyoda Castle women's quarters. Chikanobu's oeuvre uniquely bridges the aesthetics of the old Edo period with the rapid modernization of Meiji Japan, capturing changing fashions, hairstyles, and customs across time. He died in Tokyo in 1912 at the age of seventy-five.
