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A very good Japanese watercolour of a torii gate across a path and several people walking past cherry trees in bloom. The watercolor is signed 'Y. Ito'. Ito Yoshihiko (Yasuhiko) lived from 1867-1942 and was a Western-style painter. Fond of painting as a child, he studied first under Tamura Soritsu in Kyoto. In 1888 he graduated from Kyoto Prefecture School of Painting and went to Toyko where he worked briefly with Koyama Shotaro, then entered Harada Naojiro's school, the Shobikan. He helped organize the Kansai Art Academy, later becoming its director and his painting at the first Bunten received special recognition. This original watercolor - not print - measures 20" x 13 1/4". The piece is not backed and is held to the acid-free matting by only 2 pieces of archival tape. There is a 3 7/8" split in the paper at the bottom right side, just outside the signature (which can be noted in the bottom photo). There are no remnants of previous matings or mountings and on the verso, there is calligraphy, a small stamp that says 'made in japan', some penciling in English and an old sticker tag that was probably a price tag. There is no indication of matburn or toning but there are 2 or 3 tiny brown spots that may be foxing (one is in the sky area above the building to the left of the torii) but barely noticeable ...... SOLD