The Moon - Woodblock Prints by Hokusai Hiroshige and Other Artists

This beautifully designed box set of woodblock prints reveals the moon's fascinating role in Japanese art from the Edo period.

In Japanese woodblock prints, the moon appears as a quiet but powerful presence that shapes moods, marks the passage of time, and imbues the images with poetry and narrative. The book brings together atmospheric night scenes by artists such as Katsushika Hokusai, Utagawa Hiroshige, Tsukioka Yoshitoshi, and Kawase Hasui, showing how a single motif can evoke vastly different moods, from tranquility and contemplation to drama and mystery.

Landscapes, city scenes, and fleeting encounters between people are arranged in a visual sequence in which light, shadows, weather, and reflections recur and evolve across the works. Selected images are presented on pull-out accordion-fold plates that unfold into larger compositions, highlighting the connections, rhythm, and scale between the works.

Printed on high-quality paper with meticulous attention to color, line, and nuance, the book captures the woodblock prints' distinctive richness of detail and graphic power. The box set includes an art-historical booklet and offers insight into the moon as one of the most enduring and evocative motifs in Japanese art.