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This print is from the rare triptych series, entitled in Japanese "Zensei shiki" ('The
Four Seasons at Their Height'), the above design representing WINTER. The summer triptych
("Women bathing at the Daishoro", 9/1883) is illustrated in the catalog of the Cole
collection listed below. Roger Keyes in his dissertation, "Courage and Silence", only lists
three triptychs, the third one being "Spring". - Whether a fourth triptych (representing
'autumn' as the missing season) has ever been published is not known to us.
The triptychs in this set are among the few prints of women that Yoshitoshi designed
during his sojourn in Nezu and seem to be very rare. The courtesan Maboroshi-dayu ('Lady Phantom') holds a snow rabbit. Flanked by two attendants, she stands in the garden of the Daishoro, a high-class brothel in the Nezu area of Tokyo. - Yoshitoshi had a long liaison with Maboroshi-dayu. Reference literature: - Roger Keyes, "Courage and Silence", 1982; no. #458.2; - R. Keyes / G. Kuwamyama, "The bizarre imagery of Yoshitoshi - The Herbert R. Cole Collection", 1980; p. 54, no. #22 (illustrating the summer triptych of the series) |