Edo prints


  Design: Utagawa Hiroshige (1797-1858)  
  Title: Shōno, sudden rain  
  Series title: The fifty-three stations of the Tōkaidō road  
  Size: 19.2 x 30.1 cm (ōban)  
  Posthumous printing from newly cut woodblocks    
  Photography: Jacques Commandeur
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Hiroshige Shōno sudden rain

Enlargement


Originally published by Takenouchi Magohachi ca. 1831-1834. The label on the accompanying folder indicates that the supervisors responsible for this reprint of the series were Yoshida Teruji (吉田 暎二) and Hirai Koichi (平井 孝一), that the carvers of the blocks were Maeda Kentarō (前田 謙太郎) and Matsuda Torazō (松田 寅蔵), and that the printing was done by Nakajō Kineo (中条 甲子雄) and Sugimoto Shinjiro (椙本 申次郎).

Kiwame (“approved”) censorship seal in lower left margin.

Artist’s signature in bottom left print area:

Character Reading Meaning Translation
       
hiro broad  
shige heavy Picture by
ga picture Hiroshige

Followed by red Hōeidō (保永堂) publisher seal, indicating that this print belongs to Hiroshige’s first - and in my opinion best - woodblock print series dedicated to the 53 stations of the Tōkaidō road.

Series title in top left print area:

Character Reading Meaning Translation
       
east  
kai street  
way  
go five  
ten  
san three  
tsugi next  
no ’s The fifty-three stations
uchi inside of the Tōkaidō road

Followed by the name of the station:

Character Reading Meaning Translation
       
shō hamlet  
no field Shōno

And the print title in a gourd-shaped red seal:

Character Reading Meaning Translation
       
haku white  
u rain Sudden rain

The umbrella of the man on the right bears two inscriptions: Takenouchi (竹のうち), the name of the original publisher of the series, and Gojūsan tsugi (五十三次), part of the title of the series.


References


Provenance: Seller Ikomanoshufu on Buyee

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