Egawa Tomekichi (fl. ) was a master carver of

Japanese woodblock prints Woodblock printing in Japan (, ''mokuhanga'') is a technique best known for its use in the ''ukiyo-e'' artistic genre of single sheets, but it was also used for printing books in the same period. Widely adopted in Japan during the Edo period (160 ...

Edo period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was characteriz ...

Japan. He is known for his exceptional work on

Hokusai , known simply as Hokusai, was a Japanese ukiyo-e artist of the Edo period, active as a painter and printmaker. He is best known for the woodblock printing in Japan, woodblock print series ''Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji'', which includes the ...

's illustrated books (''

e-hon is the Japanese term for picture books. It may be applied in the general sense, or may refer specifically to a type of woodblock printed illustrated volume published in the Edo period (1603–1867). The first were religious items with images ...

'') such as the ''

Hokusai Manga The is a collection of sketches of various subjects by the Japanese artist Hokusai. Subjects of the sketches include landscapes, flora and fauna, everyday life and the supernatural. The word ''manga'' in the title does not refer to the contemp ...

'' and his ''

100 Views of Mount Fuji is a series of three illustrated books by Japanese ukiyo-e artist Hokusai. It is considered one of Japan's most exceptional illustrated books (''e-hon''), and alongside the '' Hokusai Manga'', the most influential in the West. The first two volu ...

'' which is considered a masterpiece of the artform. Hokusai had studied carving as an apprentice and as an exceptional draughtsman, he relied on the woodblock carver to accurately replicate the quality of his line when it came to printing. In an 1835 letter sent to various publishers, he complained about the standard of cutting in earlier editions of his ''Manga'', ''Musha-e zukushi'', and other books, and urged repeatedly that they employ Egawa Tomechiki of

Asakusa is a district in Taitō, Tokyo, Japan. It is known as the location of the Sensō-ji, a Buddhist temple dedicated to the bodhisattva Kannon. There are several other temples in Asakusa, as well as various festivals, such as the . History The ...

in future. Egawa is credited in the twelfth volume of the ''Manga'' published in 1834, and Hokusai praised his work on his recently issued ''

'', writing that: "From the first to the third volume, I found not a single corner of the carving that left me dissatisfied. For this reason, if Egawa were to take care of the carving I should also be more motivated and could concentrate better on my own work ... My one concern is to produce a well-made book." Previous editions of ''Hokusai Manga'' had been well carved but the quality was uneven and varied between work done by the master carver (''kashirabori'') and that of his assistants (''dobori''). The ''100 Views of Mount Fuji'', however, is faultless in execution and is regarded as a masterwork of the genre. Judging from names in the first volume of ''100 Views'', Egawa ran a workshop of six craftsmen: "Esen", "Bairin", "Wasuke", "Yoshitora", "Hisayuki", and "Yonekichi". Egawa supervised the first two volumes as confirmed by the colophon, but may have appointed Egawa Sentaro ("Esen") to oversee the third. Of note in Hokusai's 1835 letter is that in return for securing Egawa, he would not take a portion of the woodblock carving fee, which suggests that it was normal practice for an artist to demand a share of the carvers' commission in return for supplying them with work.Kobayashi, p. 79

References

Sources

* Kobayashi Tadashi, "''Hokusai's Letters''" in * {{cite book , last1=Bouquillard , first1=Jocelyn , last2=Marquet , first2=Christophe , title=Hokusai, First Manga Master , date=June 2007 , publisher=Harry N. Abrams , isbn=978-0-8109-9341-9 , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=E5HuAAAAMAAJ , language=en category:Japanese woodcarvers