SHINSUI ITŌ (伊東深水, 1898–1972) JAPAN — AUTUMN IN NIKKŌ (日光の秋 / Nikko no Aki) Japan Travel Bureau (JTB), 1952, approx. 109 × 72.5 cm

SHINSUI ITŌ (伊東深水, 1898–1972)

JAPAN — AUTUMN IN NIKKŌ (日光の秋 / Nikko no Aki)

Japan Travel Bureau (JTB), 1952

Details

• Artist: Shinsui Itō (伊東深水)

• Title: Japan — Autumn in Nikkō (Kankō / Tourism: Nikko no Aki)

• Date: 1952

• Medium: Colour offset travel poster on paper

• Publisher: Japan Travel Bureau (JTB) / Japan Travel Bureau Foundation (historic issuing body)

• Printer: Dai Nippon Printing Co., Ltd. (as printed)

• Dimensions: approx. 109 × 72.5 cm (approx. 42.9 × 28.5 in)

• Mounting / conservation: Linen-backed for stabilization; minor restoration undertaken

• Condition: Excellent presentation (linen backing and conservation work have greatly enhanced stability and display)

Dating and attribution

This poster is securely dated to 1952 through Japanese museum documentation: the National Crafts Museum (National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo) catalogues the work as Itō Shinsui, 1952, offset, under the title Tourism (Autumn in Nikko).

A published Japanese study connected to the museum’s “World Poster Exhibition” research further discusses Itō Shinsui’s Nikkō no Aki as a 1952 tourism-promotion poster issued by the Japan Travel Bureau Foundation (日本交通公社).

This matters for accuracy: the frequently repeated market dating of “c. 1930” does not align with the museum’s cataloguing. Additionally, the Japan Travel Bureau Foundation’s own historical timeline notes the renaming to “Japan Travel Bureau” in 1945, placing English-language “Japan Travel Bureau” usage firmly in the postwar period.

Nikkō — serenity, splendour, and one of Japan’s great journeys

Set in the mountains of Tochigi Prefecture, Nikkō has long been synonymous with a particular Japanese ideal: a place where sacred architecture, cedar forests, water, and misted valleys create an atmosphere of contemplative calm. The area’s cultural heart—the Shrines and Temples of Nikkō—is recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage site, underscoring its historic and artistic significance within Japan and beyond.

Nikkō is also defined by iconic sights that have drawn travellers for generations:

• The vermilion Shinkyō Bridge—one of the most photographed entrances to the shrine precincts—appears here as the emphatic red accent spanning the river valley.

• In the distance, a dramatic waterfall reads as a stylized evocation of Kegon Falls, among Nikkō’s best-known natural landmarks, closely associated with Lake Chūzenji.

Nikkō’s reputation as an autumn destination is not incidental: “momiji” season is one of the region’s defining annual spectacles, turning mountain slopes into layered reds, golds, and rust tones—exactly the chromatic experience this poster is designed to promise at a glance.

Japan’s tourism-poster tradition and the power of image-making

Japan has promoted travel for well over a century, but the interwar and postwar decades were especially important in shaping modern “destination Japan” through graphic design.

Interwar foundations

The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo has documented how the 1920s and 1930s saw a sophisticated early wave of tourism promotion—posters, pictorial magazines, and travel materials—often built around motifs now inseparable from Japan’s global image (kimono, landscapes, famous sites).
Japanese scholarship also emphasizes that state-linked tourism promotion in the early Shōwa period sought not only to advertise sites, but to construct an idealized “Beautiful Japan” for audiences at home and abroad—often by commissioning leading artists.

Postwar renewal—and why 1952 is meaningful

If the interwar era established the visual language, the early 1950s renewed it with urgency and optimism. 1952—the museum-documented year for this poster—stands at a pivotal moment when Japan was re-presenting itself through culture, landscape, and hospitality.

That long arc leads directly to today: Japan is experiencing the strongest inbound tourism levels in its history, with 2024 reaching an annual record of 36,869,900 international visitors (JNTO), and subsequent months continuing at exceptional scale.
This contemporary surge is precisely what makes surviving mid‑century promotional works so compelling: they are the aesthetic and historical DNA of an industry that has become central to modern Japan’s global presence.

Artist spotlight — Shinsui Itō and the elevation of the travel poster

Shinsui Itō is celebrated as a major 20th-century Japanese painter and print designer, closely associated with the shin-hanga current and renowned especially for bijin-ga (images of beautiful women). Japanese biographical records note his early training and professional development within the worlds of illustration and design—expertise that translates naturally into high-impact poster work.

In this composition, Itō brings the authority of fine-art figure painting to an advertising format. The result is a poster that doesn’t merely “sell a place,” but stages an experience: elegance, seasonality, and a composed encounter with landscape.

The present work — design, beauty, and uniqueness

A striking fusion of modern typography and Japanese pictorial refinement

The bold, shadowed block letters “JAPAN” (with the subtitle “Autumn in Nikko”) provide immediate Western-facing readability, while the image itself retains a distinctly Japanese sensibility: flattened planes, carefully tuned gradients, and an almost print-like control of contour and colour.

A masterclass in colour orchestration

• Crimson maple leaves cascade across the sky like a theatrical curtain.

• A counterpoint of golden foliage sweeps in from the left, creating a two-note autumn chorus—red and gold—set against cool mountain blues.

• The vermilion bridge anchors the lower left, a graphic “stamp” of place and a compositional hinge between human figures and landscape.

Bijin-ga as invitation

Two women in richly patterned kimono dominate the foreground—calm, luminous, and idealized—turning the viewer from observer into participant. The styling is not incidental: it frames Nikkō not only as scenery, but as culture, tradition, and grace made visible.

Monumental scale

At approximately 109 cm tall, this is a true large-format statement piece—visually immersive, wall-commanding, and far more impactful than the smaller travel ephemera of the period.

Rarity and desirability

Vintage travel posters were working objects—printed to be displayed, weathered, replaced, and discarded. Examples surviving in excellent, display-ready condition are inherently scarce, and this is especially true for large-format Japanese tourism posters from the early postwar era.

Dated to 1952, the poster is now over 70 years old, and its survival—paired with its visual sophistication and museum-documented authorship—positions it as both decorative showpiece and historical artifact of Japan’s tourism imagination.

Condition and conservation

This example has been linen-backed to stabilize the paper—an established conservation method for important vintage posters, improving handling safety, flattening, and long-term structural integrity. Minor restoration has been completed to achieve an excellent overall presentation, making it particularly suitable for framing and prominent display.