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Meiji prints

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	Design:	Tsugumi Bihō (?-?)
	Print title:	Half a kaiseki
	Album/series title:	Azuma Sugata (Images of the East)
	Size:	20.8 x 30.1 cm (ōban)
	Original woodblock print
	Photography:	Jacques Commandeur

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Enlargement

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Special effects: metallic pigments on the hair ornament, collars and obi of the ladies on the left and on the right, on the trees on the sliding door behind the lady in the middle, and on the vase with irises; burnishing (sho-men-zuri) on the hair of the ladies.

Published ca. Meiji 43 (1910) by Akiyama Buemon.

Artist’s name and red seal in bottom left print area:

Character	Reading	Meaning	Translation
美	bi	beautiful
宝	hō	treasure	Bihō

Series title in beige cartouche in right margin:

Character	Reading	Meaning	Translation
東	azuma	east
す	su
が	ga		Images
た	ta	image	of the East

Publisher’s address and firm name (from right to left) in bottom margin:

Character	Reading	Meaning	Translation
東	tō	east
京	kyō	capital	Tokyo,
古	furu	old
日	nichi	sun
本	hon	origin	old
橋	hashi	bridge	Nihonbashi
區	ku	district	district,
室	muro	greenhouse
町	machi	quarter	Muro quarter,
三	san	three
丁	chō	house block
目	me	count suffix	3rd house block,
九	yū	nine
番	ban	number
地	chi	earth, land	number 9,
滑	kotsu	slide
稽	kei	think
堂	dō	temple	Kokkeidō

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References

• Merritt, Helen, and Yamada, Nanako (1992). Guide to Modern Japanese Woodblock Prints: 1900 - 1975. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press.

• Narazaki, Muneshige, ed. (1990). Ukiyo-e Masterpieces in Western collections. The Robert O. Muller Collection. Tokyo: Kodansha International.

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Provenance: Second-hand bookstore Sugimoto Ryoedo in Osaka.