Under Sail: a time honoured image of "Two Japanese Junks", ca 1892-99, by pioneering Japanese photographer Enami Nobukuni (江南 信國, 1859 - 1929), a.k.a. T. Enami of Yokohama.

10 April 1946

A Japanese woman carries her son on her back as she marks her ballot in Tokyo on 10 April, 1946, in Japan at the first free election in generations. Japanese women also exercised the right to vote for the very first time during this election. AP photo

"Geisha Party”, Kyōto, Japan, 1946, by German-born American photographer and photojournalist Alfred Eisenstaedt (1898 - 1955)

"Samurai" (侍)

"Samurai" (侍), a woodblock print 7 1/8" x 9 3/8" + margins, from the seven volume woodblock series "Bairei's Pictures" (楳嶺我観, Bairei Gakan), by Kōno Bairei (幸野 楳嶺, 3 March, 1844 – 20 February, 1895), a Japanese painter, book illustrator, and art teacher of the Edo and Meiji periods.

"Spring Pony’ (春駒,  Harukoma), 1930, by Kaburagi Kiyokata (鏑木 清方, 31 August, 1878 – 2 March, 1972)

14 April, 1954

Born in Mototo, Kumamoto Prefecture Japan on this day in 1954, Tsuruta Ichiro (鶴田一郎) a contemporary Japanese artist who is celebrating his 67th birthday today. 

He is most famous for his vivid paintings of beautiful Japanese women. - a genre of Japanese painting known as bijinga (美人画). 

Here are some examples of his work.

"Flowers of All Seasons" (a ca. 1960s-70s woodblock print) by Kasamatsu Shirō (笠松 紫浪; 1898-1991)

"Flowers of All Seasons" (a ca. 1960s-70s woodblock print) by Kasamatsu Shirō (笠松 紫浪; 1898-1991), a prominent member of both the shin-hanga (新版画, new prints) and, later, sōsaku-hanga (創作版画, creative prints) art movements in 20th century Japan.

This charming print presents six of Japan’s iconic seasonal flowers, notably excluding the most famous of them all, the cherry blossom (桜の花 sakura no hana). 

The flowers shown, in order, are as follows:1) January & February - Plum Blossoms2) March & April - Camellia3) May & June - Iris 4) July & August - Morning Glory 5) September & October - Broad Bell-Flower6) November & December -  Chrysanthemum

Hanami (花見) 101

A little hanami (花見) 101 for those of you, like me, hoping to head out (cautiously) into the wider world this weekend and take in the pleasures of what Mother Nature has to offer us all.

"Mt. Fuji, pine trees and chidori" (ca. 1900-1910) by Tsukioka Kōgyo (月岡 耕漁; 1869 – 1927) a.k.a. Sakamaki Kōgyo (坂巻 耕漁)

Tsukioka Kōgyo (月岡 耕漁; 1869 – 1927) a.k.a. Sakamaki Kōgyo (坂巻 耕漁) is more commonly known as the pre-eminent graphic artist of the nōh and kyōgen theatre traditions in the Meiji period.

Chidori, known in English as plovers, are a type of wading bird and very often featured in Japanese art, where a very common mythology suggests that they are born from the spume of waves (as any close examination of Hokusai's artwork will quickly reveal).

"Sankei-en Wisteria" (三渓園の藤), 2011, by Morimura Rei/Ray (森村 玲), a Tokyo based woodblock artist, born (in Tokyo) in 1948.

Sankei-en (三溪園; literally, the "Three Creeks Garden") is a traditional Japanese-style garden in Naka Ward, Yokohama, Japan, which opened in 1906Sankei-en was designed and built by Tomitaro Hara (原富太郎, 1868–1939), known by the pseudonym Sankei Hara, who was an affluent silk trader from Saitama Prefecture. Almost all of its buildings in the garden are historically significant structures bought by Hara himself in locations all over the country, among them Tokyo, Kyoto, Kamakura, Gifu Prefecture, and Wakayama Prefecture. Ten have been declared Important Cultural Property, and three more are Tangible Cultural Properties of Japan designated by the City of Yokohama.Badly damaged during World War II, the garden was donated in 1953 to the City of Yokohama, which entrusted it to the Sankeien Hoshōkai Foundation (三溪園保勝会, Sankeien Hoshōkai). Sankei-en was then restored almost to its pre-war condition.

Adolfo Farsari (11 February. 1841 - 7 February. 1898)

Born in Vicenza, Lombardy-Venetia (then part of the Austrian Empire, now in Italy), on this day in 1841, Adolfo Farsari (11 February 1841 – 7 February 1898), a pioneering Italian photographer based in Yokohama who had a significant impact on the development of Japanese photography. 

'Heaven and Earth Shine' [乾坤輝く]

'Heaven and Earth Shine' [乾坤輝く], a 1940 woodblock print by Yokoyama Taikan (– 横山大観, 1868-1958), real name Sakai Hidemaru, a major figure in pre-World War II Japanese painting. He is notable for helping to create the Japanese painting technique of Nihonga (日本画), meaning Japanese style paintings made in accordance with traditional Japanese artistic conventions, techniques and materials. While based on traditions over a thousand years old, the term was coined in the Meiji period of Imperial Japan, to distinguish such works from Western-style paintings or Yōga (洋画).

Night cherry blossoms (夜桜, Yozakura)

"Plum Blossom and the Moon" from the book "Mount Fuji in Spring" (春の富士山 / Haru no Fuji San), ca. 1803, by Katsushika Hokusai (葛飾 北斎, 1760-1849)

26 April, 1969 - the death of Aikido founder Ueshiba Morihei (植芝 盛平, 14 December, 1883 – 26 April, 1969)

Remembering Aikido founder Ueshiba Morihei (植芝 盛平, 14 December, 1883 – 26 April, 1969) who passed away from liver cancer on this day in 1969 at the age of 85. https://youtu.be/XoDK3XuvZWw

He appears here in front of a self-portrait of himself as the Dragon King, representing the unification of motion and stillness!

"A Postcard Mt. Fuji" (a 2014 woodblock print with gold leaf; dimensions (h x w): 12.5 x 8.75 inches, edition size: 50) by Tamekane Yoshikatsu (爲金義勝), a contemporary Japanese abstract artist who was born in Hyōgo Prefecture (兵庫県) in 1959.