The images are from One Hundred Famous Views of Edo Meisho Yedo Hiakkei. (Links are to descriptions on our other web site.)
These prints are new in two ways. They have only just been added to our collection and they are fairly recent reprints. I have not been able to identify the publisher, but Hiroshige's images have been reproduced using the original woodblock printing techniques ever since they were first published. The images are from One Hundred Famous Views of Edo Meisho Yedo Hiakkei. (Links are to descriptions on our other web site.)
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Utagawa Yoshifuji [歌川芳藤] (1828-1887) was a pupil of Kuniyoshi Utagawa. He specialised in subjects of warriors and toy paintings. He also worked as an illustrator for children's books. I have just added this print of a woman and child to the catalogue. I cannot identify it beyond the fact it has Edo [東都] as a title. Does anyone have any additional information? Here is another print made in 1857 (the year of the Snake). This one is by Yoshitora, who is best known for his "Yokohama" pictures (pictures of foreigners). Although we have a few prints by him, none are of non-Japanese themes. The series of prints is called Modern Figures in a Contest of Flowers Hana kurabe imayô sugata [花競今様姿]. Each print shows a beauty (this one is looking at hair pins) and an associated flower. I have not been able to identify the flower depicted in this print. I have just added a print by Utagawa Yoshikazu to the colelction. Yoshikazu is a "Yokohama School" artist, which means his favorite subjects were foreigners and foreign manners. He lived all his life in Edo. This print is very Japanese in nature. It is of Kiso Yoshinaka and Tomoe Gozen [木曽義仲 巴御前]. Tomoe was a female samurai warrior (onna bugeisha) and concubine of Minamoto no Yoshinaka. He had ambitions to lead the Minamoto clan, but lost in battle to his cousin Yoshitomo at the Battle of Awazu on 21 February 1184. Their explits are described in The Tale of the Heike. It has been some time since I updated the collection, but here at last are two new prints by Chikanobu from the series Brocade of Edo - A Contrast of Day and Night Azuma nishiki chûya kurabe [東錦晝夜竸]. They are numbers 15 (White Chrysanthemum) and 19 (Ôkubo Hikozaemon) both published in 1886. White Chrysanthemum was a woman who was tied up and thrown into a river because her mother-in-law was jealous of her noble fiance. White Chrysanthemum married him in the end with the help of Kan'non. Ôkubo Hikozaemon was a famous warrior.
Ravens at First Light Akegarasu Yume no Awayuki is a Shinnai ballad (dodoitsu) by Tsuruga Waka-no-jô (1712-86) inspired by a 1769 love suicide. The story is of a samurai who falls in love with a prostitute. He falls on hard times and has no money. However, she has fallen in love with him, and they run away together and commit double suicide. The poem has often been used as the basis for kabuki plays. The version of 1857, has the lovers miraculously revived to live happily ever after. This is the play Akegarasu yuki no urazato depicted in this print by Kunisada with Iwai Kumesaburô III as Yamanaya Urazato in the production of V/1857 at the Nakamura Theatre. The origial poem
Meaning: I would like to kill all the crows of all mortal worlds, and
sleep in late with my master. I have just added this print of a beauty (probably a courtesan with her maid). We have not been able to identify the women or a series that the print may have come from. The only clue is that it says 大七 or Oonana (a Japanese name) on the lantern, but that has not helped us. The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, USA has a copy, but they do not have many details in their catalogue. Does anyone have any helpful information? After a short holiday, I have just added this print by Toyokuni II. It is Sign of the ram [未] from The clothing of Zensei Matsu: The Twelve Signs of the Zodiac Zensei Matsu no Yosooi, jûni shi [全盛枩の粧十二支]. This is the first print by Toyokuni II in the collection. Utagawa Toyokuni II (1777–1835) was also known as Toyoshige. He was the pupil, son-in-law and adopted son of Toyokuni I. From the year after Toyokuni I died, Toyoshige [豊重] began signing his work Toyokuni [豊国]. By around 1835, Toyokuni II had died or stopped producing prints, and in 1844, Kunisada, another student of Toyokuni I, took the name “Toyokuni,” and became leader of the Utagawa school. He did not recognize Toyoshige’s claim to the name Toyokuni, and making the situation even more complicated, Kunisada initially called himself “Toyokuni II.” He is now known as Toyokuni III. I have just added a new print by Suzuki Harunobu. Like the other Haranobu prints in the colelction, it is a reprint from a famous collection called Japanese colour prints in Ukiyo style Ukiyo fuzoku Yamato nishiki-e [浮世風俗やまと錦絵]. They were published in 1916 by Hashiguchi Goyô [橋口五葉] who was an early 20th century Japanese print maker (1880-1921). There were 12 volumes with 20 ukiyo-e reprints in each. The new image is Night Rain at the Double-Shelf Stand Daisu no yau [台子の夜雨] from the series Eight Parlour Views Zashiki hakkei [座敷八景]. They are parodies of the "eight views," hakkei [八景] which have a long history in Japanese art, dating back to Chinese originals. See Hiroshige's famous Eight Views of Omi Omi hakkei. This one is a parody of The evening rain at Karasaki [唐崎の夜雨]. This is the first update for some time. I have been concentrating on updating our netsuke site (which is now up to date). This Japanese prints site has the first 300 prints from our collection; our other site is more up to date, with over 100 more prints. The latest two prints added to our other site are both of the same character (Kasugaya Tokijirô) from the same kabuki play (Akegarasu Hana no Nureginu) and both by Toyokuni III. However, one is of Ichikawa Danjuro VIII from a production in 1851, and the other is of Nakamura Fukusuke I from a later production in 1857. Both are on the Toyokuni III page of our other site. The story of Akegarasu Hana no Nureginu (based on true events of about 1760): Kasugaya Tokijirô, the adopted son of a money broker, was infatuated by Yamanaya Unasaro, a high-ranking courtesan. Kasugaya Tokijirô, disowned by his family, frequented the brothel to visit her but eventually the lovers were forced to separate by the proprietor. Soon afterwards, Kasugaya Tokijirô sneaked into the brothel and took Yamanaya Unasaro away to die with him. This double suicide caused a sensation an the time.
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AuthorWe have been collecting netsuke and Japanese prints for several years, and hope Archives
July 2013
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