The Beauty of Japanese Art

When I was sorting through some things recently, part of making space for my new nest in The Buttery, I found this delightful set of Japanese postcards.  I can’t remember where or when I bought them.  But I do know that I have had them for a long time.  There is no question of my actually using them as postcards – they are too nice to do anything with other than look at!

Here is a picture of the pack folded out.  As usual, you can click on the image for a closer look, particularly if you want to read the blurb on the inside leaf, which gives some brief information about the background to these images.

And here is a selection of some of the 30 images in the pack.  I could easily have copied every single one.  But these are among my favourites – ones which struck me as being particularly beautiful, interesting and/or noteworthy.

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Having rediscovered this pack, I was interested to come across this article about the availability online of many 19th Century Japanese woodcuts, courtesy of Amsterdam’s Van Gogh Museum.  What an amazing resource this is.  I can see myself spending many a happy hour browsing through these wonderful pictures.  Here is just one as a taster…

Minakuchi: At the Foot of Hiramatsuyama Mountain, Famous for its Pine Trees, no. 51 from the series Collection of Illustrations of Famous Places near the Fifty-Three Stations [Along the Tōkaidō] Utagawa Hiroshige, 1855