Meiji prints
| Design: | Yōshū Chikanobu (1838-1912) | |||||
| Series title: | Seven days of the week | |||||
| Print title: | Monday - Autumn moon over the Sumida river (left) | |||||
| Size: | 35.5 x 23.6 cm (ōban) | |||||
| Original woodblock print | ||||||
| Photography: | Jacques Commandeur |
|
|
The direction of the view in this triptych is most probably towards Mimeguri shrine in Mukōjima on the east bank of the Sumida river, its torii (half hidden behind a dike in order to protect Mukōjima from floods) being clearly visible in this print, see also this page of my second website.
A simultaneous view of the prints in this triptych can be seen here.
Artist’s signature in bottom area of the print:
| Character | Reading | Meaning | Translation |
| 葉 | yō | leaf | |
| 修 | shū | discipline | |
| 周 | chika | circumference | Yōshū |
| 延 | nobu | prolong | Chikanobu |
followed by artist’s red circular seal reading Yōshū.
Printing and publishing date, and address and name of the publisher in red in bottom print area:
| Character | Reading | Meaning | Translation |
| 明 | mei | light | Printed in the |
| 治 | ji | government | Meiji era, |
| 廿 | jūnyū | twenty | |
| 九 | kyū | nine | the 29th year |
| 年 | nen | year | (= 1896), |
| 九 | kyū | nine | the 9th month, |
| 月 | gatsu | month | (= September 1896), |
| 二 | ni | two | and the 20th day |
| 十 | jū | ten | (= September the 20th, |
| 日 | jitsu | day | 1896). |
| 印 | in | stamp | |
| 刷 | satsu | ||
| 今 | kon | this | |
| 月 | getsu | month | |
| 廿 | jūnyū | twenty | |
| 四 | shi | four | Published |
| 日 | jitsu | day | in the same |
| 発 | hatsu | emit | month, |
| 行 | kō | go | on its 24th day. |
| 日 | ni | sun | |
| 本 | hon | origin | |
| 橋 | hashi | bridge | Nihonbashi, |
| 小 | ko | little | |
| 伝 | den | transmit | |
| 馬 | ma | horse | |
| 丁 | chō | quarter | Kotenma quarter, |
| 三 | san | three | |
| 丁 | chō | house block | |
| 目 | me | suffix | 3rd house block, |
| 十 | jū | ten | |
| 七 | shichi | seven | |
| 番 | ban | number | |
| 地 | chi | earth | number 17, |
| 長 | ha | leader | |
| 谷 | se | valley | |
| 川 | kawa | river | Hasegawa |
| 園 | sono | garden | |
| 吉 | kichi | joy | Sonokichi |
References
- Newland, Amy, and Uhlenbeck, Chris, Eds. (1990). Ukiyo-e to Shin Hanga. New York: Mallard Press.
- Stephens, Amy (1993). The New Wave: Twentieth-century Japanese Prints from the Robert O. Muller Collection. London: Bamboo Publishing.
Provenance: An auction held in June 2015 by the Floating World gallery