Edo prints


  Design: Utagawa Hiroshige (1797-1858)  
  Title: Winter: Sumida river in snow  
  Series title: Famous views of Edo in the four seasons  
  Size: 37.6 x 12.7 cm (chū tanzaku)  
  Posthumous printing from newly carved woodblocks    
  Photography: Jacques Commandeur
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Hiroshige Sumida river in snow

Enlargement


Originally issued ca 1834-1835 by publisher Kawaguchiya Shōzō. This is a later edition published by Takamizawa in the 1950s.

Artist’s signature in the middle right of the print area:

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

Followed by red kiwame censorship seal and red publisher Kawaguchiya Shōzō’s Kawashō seal, see Marks (2011, p. 79, seal number 25-354).

Series title in top left of the sky:

Character Reading Meaning Translation
       
shi four  
ki season  
bay  
to capital  
mei reputation Famous places of Edo
sho place in the four seasons

Followed by print title:

Character Reading Meaning Translation
       
fuyu winter  
       
sumi corner  
ta rice field  
kawa river  
no ’s Winter:
yuki snow Sumida river in snow

The kyōka poem in the top left of the print reads:

Sumidagawa
mizu no ue nimo
furu yuki no
kienokoreru wa
miyakodori kamo

Even on the waters of Sumida river
the snow that falls fails to melt
- Or could they be seagulls?


Red publisher seal on verso of the print:

Takamizawa Seal

The seal contains the following kanji:

Character Reading Meaning Translation
       
taka high  
mi(ru) see  
sawa swamp  
han edition Takamizawa edition


References


Provenance: Fuji Arts

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