Edo prints
| Design: | Utagawa Hiroshige (1797-1858) | |||||
| Title: | Seba | |||||
| Series title: | The sixty-nine stations of the Kisokaidō road | |||||
| Size: | 25.3 x 36.2 cm (ōban) | |||||
| Posthumous printing from newly cut woodblocks | ||||||
| Photography: | Jacques Commandeur |
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Originally published ca. 1834-1842. This reproduction published by Uedo Mokuhansha in Tokyo in the early 1950s.
Artist’s signature in middle right of print area:
| Character | Reading | Meaning | Translation |
| 広 | hiro | broad | |
| 重 | shige | heavy | Picture by |
| 画 | ga | picture | Hiroshige |
Series title in top left of print area:
| Character | Reading | Meaning | Translation |
| 木 | ki | tree; wood | |
| 曽 | so | formerly | |
| 街 | kai | street | |
| 道 | dō | way | |
| 六 | roku | six | |
| 十 | jū | ten | |
| 九 | kyū | nine | |
| 次 | tsugi | next | The sixty-nine |
| の | no | ’s | stations of the |
| 内 | uchi | inside | Kisokaidō road |
Followed by print title:
| Character | Reading | Meaning | Translation |
| 洗 | se | wash | |
| 馬 | ba | horse | Seba |
Name of publisher in black rectangle in right margin:
| Character | Reading | Meaning | Translation |
| 大 | ō | big | |
| 江 | e | bay | |
| 戸 | to | door | |
| 木 | moku | wood | |
| 版 | han | block | Uedo |
| 社 | sha | company | Mokuhansha |
Name of supervisor in right margin:
| Character | Reading | Meaning | Translation |
| 監 | kan | keep watch over | |
| 修 | shū | master | Supervisor: |
| 楢 | nara | oak | |
| 崎 | saki | cape | |
| 宗 | shū | religion | Narazaki |
| 重 | shige | heavy | Muneshige |
Followed by names of carver and printer of this later edition:
| Character | Reading | Meaning | Translation |
| 彫 | ho(ru) | carve | |
| 師 | shi | teacher | Carver: |
| 伊*) | i | that one | |
| 藤*) | tō | wisteria | Itō |
| 進*) | susumu | elevate | Susumu |
| 摺 | su(ru) | rub | |
| 師 | shi | teacher | Printer: |
| 小 | o | small | |
| 野 | no | field | |
| 寺 | tera | temple | |
| 隆 | ryū | prosperity | Onodera |
| 二 | ni | two | Ryūji |
Please visit the French Kisokaidō website of Serge Astières for more information on the sixty-nine stations of the Kisokaidō road.
References
- Forrer, Matthi (1994). Japanese Prints (2 volumes in slipcase). Vol. 10-11, Genève: Collections Baur.
- Forrer, Matthi (1997). Hiroshige, Prints and Drawings. London: Royal Academy of Arts and Prestel Verlag.
- Izzard, Sebastian (2008). Hiroshige and Eisen. The Sixty-Nine Stations of the Kisokaido. New York: George Braziller Publisher.
- Kobayashi, Tadashi (1997). Ukiyo-e. An introduction to Japanese woodblock prints. Tokyo: Kodansha International.
- Newland, Amy, and Uhlenbeck, Chris, Eds. (1990). Ukiyo-e to Shin Hanga. New York: Mallard Press.
- Uhlenbeck, Chris, and Jansen, Marije (2008). Hiroshige, Shaping the Image of Japan. Leiden: Hotei Publishing.
Provenance: Fuji Arts
*) Gratefully acknowledging Serge Astières’s help in identifying and translating these kanji.