Iwamurada: Blind Men Brawling
c. 1835–36 · Woodblock print; ink and colour on paper · National Diet Library, Tokyo
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About this work
- Artist
- Keisai Eisen (1790–1848)
- Year
- c. 1835–36
- Medium
- Woodblock print; ink and colour on paper
- Original size
- approx. 23 × 35 cm (horizontal ōban)
- Collection
- National Diet Library, Tokyo (impression pid 1306284, call no. 寄別2-2-1-5; many other impressions exist)
- Movement
- Ukiyo-e
- Series
- Sixty-nine Stations of the Kisokaidō
A brawl breaks out among blind travellers on a road through green fields. One swings his staff overhead, another stripped to his loincloth grabs a man by the collar, others tumble to the ground among their scattered belongings, and a dog barks at the right. Beyond, flat rice fields and a stream stretch to blue mountains under a pink sky. This is print twenty-three of The Sixty-nine Stations of the Kisokaidō, published by Hōeidō and later Kinjudō, c. 1835–36. Keisai Eisen, who designed it, began the series and Utagawa Hiroshige completed it. The scene is a comic one. Iwamurada was the twenty-second station on the Nakasendō, the inland road from Edo to Kyoto; the English title is descriptive, and impressions vary in colour and condition.
This exhibition-poster edition shows the whole work beneath original typography set in-house. The original is in the public domain.
Where it works
Fresh green fields and pink sky behind a tangle of figures in blue, green and tan, for a study, home office or den at 16×24 in black. It pairs with Hiroshige's Goyu: Women Stopping Travelers for two comic scenes of roadside commotion.
Style, size & framing detail
- Style
- Exhibition poster of a Ukiyo-e painting
- Era
- 19th century (c. 1835–36)
- Orientation
- Portrait
- Palette
- cream & beige
- Mood
- classic
- Rooms
- study or library, home office, living room, dining room, hallway or entryway
- Good gift for
- housewarming, art lovers
Size. We'd hang this one at 16×24. Prints at 12×18, 16×24, 24×36 in — 12×18 for a shelf, desk or a gallery-wall grid; 16×24 above a desk, console or in a hallway; 24×36 as the statement piece above a sofa or bed.
Framing. Exhibition posters sit best in a slim black frame with no mat — the typeset margin is the mat.
Pairing. Pairs as a set of three with other famous painting prints (10% off three or more).
Details & materials
Shipping & returns
Is this the whole painting, or a crop?
Is Iwamurada: Blind Men Brawling in the public domain?
What is it printed on?
When was Iwamurada: Blind Men Brawling painted, and in what medium?
What size works above a sofa or bed?
About this design
The Madten promise
A fine-art print
The same artwork as a clean fine-art print — the image shown large with a minimal caption.
