Shinkoin Temple 1992 Japanese woodblock print by Masao Ido limited edition 27/180 original frame

Shinkoin Temple 1992 Japanese woodblock print by Masao Ido limited edition 27/180 original frame

The pencil inscription at lower left reads 神光院, which is Shinkō-in (Shinkoin). It is a Buddhist temple in the north of Kyoto, so your title is correct. The date is "'92", and the numbering reads 27/180.

Sunlight flickers across a still pond, and moss-covered black rocks rest beside a raked gravel path. In this 1992 woodblock print, Masao Ido turns a quiet corner of the Shinkoin temple garden in Kyoto into a study in light, texture and calm.

Ido builds the scene from layered colour blocks. The water is a pale silvery blue, broken by dappled sunlight, and a fine grain in the surface gives it a shimmer. Against it, the deep greens of the moss and shrubs and the near-black stones feel graphic and modern, yet still rooted in the Japanese woodblock tradition. The effect is serene and contemplative, and it works equally well in a mid-century, minimalist or Japandi interior.

The print is titled in Japanese, dated '92, numbered 27/180 and signed "Masao Ido" in pencil. It also bears the artist's red seal. It is presented in its original Japanese frame, with a cream mat and a dark brown wooden frame. The reverse carries the original gallery label with a biography of the artist (Hamakaze Art).

Masao Ido (井堂 雅夫) is a Japanese woodblock printer and textile dyer, born in 1945 in Manchuria. He is a council member (評議員) of the Sankigakai art association. He was selected for the Nichido Print Grand Prix and for the exhibitions of the Japan Print Association. He has had solo exhibitions at department stores across Japan and in the United States, Switzerland and Australia.

His career extends beyond printmaking. He designed stage sets for the Hanayagi school of Japanese dance, and in 1986 he created export packaging designs for Shiseido. His work is held in public collections including Kyoto Prefecture, the Fukui Prefectural Board of Education, Morioka City and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. The label also mentions the director of the Museum of Modern Art in New York. The wording is ambiguous, so I would not state this as a MoMA collection in the listing.

The print belongs to the modern Japanese hanga tradition. It is a contemporary heir to shin-hanga and sōsaku-hanga, with flat, bold colour planes, simplified forms and a precise multi-block technique. Temple gardens, moss and stone are recurring subjects for Ido, and he handles them with a graphic, almost abstract clarity.

Details

• Creator: Masao Ido (b. 1945)
• Title: Shinkoin Temple (神光院)
• Date: 1992
• Medium: Colour woodblock print on paper
• Edition: 27/180, titled, dated and signed in pencil, with red seal
• Frame: original Japanese wooden frame
• Dimensions (frame): H 44 x W 57 x D 3 cm / H 17.3 x W 22.4 x D 1.2 in
• Origin: Japan

Masao Ido, 井堂雅夫, Shinkoin, 神光院, Kyoto temple garden, Japanese woodblock print, hanga, limited edition 27/180, 1992, moss garden, Japandi, mid-century interior, original Japanese frame