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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Hiroshige Seba

Enlargement


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
       
hiro broad  
shige heavy Picture by
ga picture Hiroshige

Series title in top left of print area:

Character Reading Meaning Translation
       
ki tree; wood  
so formerly  
kai street  
way  
roku six  
ten  
kyū nine  
tsugi next The sixty-nine
no ’s stations of the
uchi inside Kisokaidō road

Followed by print title:

Character Reading Meaning Translation
       
se wash  
ba horse Seba

Name of publisher in black rectangle in right margin:

Character Reading Meaning Translation
       
ō big  
e bay  
to door  
moku wood  
han block Uedo
sha company Mokuhansha

Name of supervisor in right margin:

Character Reading Meaning Translation
       
kan keep watch over  
shū master Supervisor:
       
nara oak  
saki cape  
shū religion Narazaki
shige heavy Muneshige

Followed by names of carver and printer of this later edition:

Character Reading Meaning Translation
       
ho(ru) carve  
shi teacher Carver:
*) i that one  
*) wisteria Itō
*) susumu elevate Susumu
       
su(ru) rub  
shi teacher Printer:
o small  
no field  
tera temple  
ryū prosperity Onodera
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


Provenance: Fuji Arts

*) Gratefully acknowledging Serge Astières’s help in identifying and translating these kanji.

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