This marvelous evocation of traditional Japanese culture is the vision of the most prolific and influential woodblock artist of the Meiji period. Tsukioka Yoshitoshi began his masterpiece in 1885 and finished it shortly before his death, seven years later. His images depict characters from history and legend — courtesans, warriors, musicians, poets, and ordinary folk — in striking vignettes that unfold by the light of the moon.
An eager public of Yoshitoshi's contemporaries snapped up new designs from the "moon series" as quickly as they appeared. The artist incorporated Western techniques into a traditional medium that was already losing ground to photography and lithography. Inspired by history and myth, his portraits of a vanishing world elevated woodblock art to its highest level before the genre's decline. Now, after a century of obscurity, Yoshitoshi's glorious illustrations are being rediscovered. This edition of his greatest work features reproductions of each image in full color and at nearly actual size, accompanied by insightful commentaries.