TAMENOBU. Yaji and Kita arrive at the Tenno-ji Temple in Osaka.

Rare and splendid print depicting the Torii of Shiramine-gu, entrance of the Buddhist Temple Tenno-ji Kosho-in. From the series The Shank's Mare Tokaido, 1918 ca. Shank's Mare ("Tokaidochu Hizakurige"), a comic novel by Jippensha Ikku, is about the misadventures of two travelers (Kita and Yaji) on the Tokaido, the main road between Kyoto and Edo during the Edo Period. The book was published in twelve parts between 1802 and 1822. Stories from it have been illustrated by Ukiyo-e artists, most completely by Fujikawa Tamenobu, who created a series of woodblocks in the 1890's. Tamenobu was a woodblock artist working at the turn of the century. Little is known about this Meiji-period artist. He is best known for a series of prints depicting the travels of Yajirobe and Kitahachi, the popular protagonists of Jippensha Ikku’s Tokaidochu Hizakurige.