Hirosaki Castle (1935) – Hiroshi Yoshida

A high definition print reproduction of "Hirosaki Castle", a Japanese woodblock print by Hiroshi Yoshida (1935)

✓ Thick, matte, museum-quality paper
✓ Printing from ultra-high-definition images
✓ Fast shipping in a protective cardboard tube
✓ Restored colors faithful to the original work

Seen through a curtain of weeping cherry blossoms, the white keep of Hirosaki Castle rises above its turquoise moat. Hiroshi Yoshida made this print in 1935 for his series Eight Scenes of Cherry Blossoms (Sakura hachidai), as the date and title inscribed in the left margin show. Rather than painting the castle head-on, he hides it behind the branches, so the blossoms themselves become the subject: thousands of petals built up colour by colour from carved woodblocks.

Hirosaki Castle stands in the far north of Honshu, in Aomori Prefecture. Its keep is one of only twelve original castle keeps still standing in Japan, and its grounds remain among the most celebrated cherry blossom spots in the country.

Japanese artist Hiroshi Yoshida (1876–1950) was a master of shin-hanga, the "new prints" movement that renewed the ukiyo-e tradition with Western light and perspective. A tireless traveller and mountaineer, he ran his own workshop from 1925, supervising every carver and printer himself.

The print is reproduced with its full margins, including Yoshida's pencil signature and the handwritten title "Hirosaki Castle".

Discover all our Hiroshi Yoshida prints, or browse our full collection of Japanese woodblock prints.