Meiji prints
| Design: | Mizuno Hidekata (1875-1944) | |||||
| Print title: | Writing calligraphy | |||||
| Album/series title: | Katei no Hana (Household flowers) | |||||
| Size: | 21.6 x 31.2 cm (ōban) | |||||
| Original woodblock print | ||||||
| Photography: | Jacques Commandeur |
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Special effects: burnishing (sho-men-zuri) on the women’s hair and the black cushion; silver metallic pigments on the women’s hair ornament, collar and the butterflies on her obi, on the fan, on the doorknobs of the closet, and on the paperweight and waterjug on the table.
The low table on the left displays the standard tools and materials typically used in Shodo (i.e., calligraphy): the fude or brushes, the suzuri or ink stone, the bunchin or paper weight used to weight down the paper on which the Japanese characters are written, and the mizusashi or waterjugs needed to obtain the ink by rubbing the ink block on the ink stone and mixing that with water.
Published ca. 1907 by Akiyama Buemon.
This print has a vertical fold in the middle, indicating that it was issued as part of an orihon album (i.e., folding book).
Artist’s name in lower left of the print:
| Character | Reading | Meaning | Translation |
| 秀 | hiide(ru) | excell | |
| 方 | kata | person | Hidekata |
Series title and print number in the light-pink cartouche in the right margin:
| Character | Reading | Meaning | Translation |
| 家 | ka | house | |
| 庭 | tei | garden | |
| の | no | ’s | |
| 花 | hana | flower | Household flowers, |
| 九 | ku | nine | print number nine |
Faint publisher’s address, telephone number, and firm name in middle of bottom margin (from right to left):
| Character | Reading | Meaning | Translation |
| 東 | tō | east | |
| 京 | kyō | capital | |
| 市 | shi | city | Tokyo city, |
| 日 | ni | sun | |
| 本 | hon | origin | |
| 橋 | hashi | bridge | |
| 區 | ku | district | Nihonbashi district, |
| 室 | muro | greenhouse | |
| 町 | machi | quarter | Muro quarter, |
| 三 | san | three | |
| 丁 | chō | house block | |
| 目 | me | count suffix | 3rd house block, |
| 九 | kyū | nine | |
| 番 | ban | number | |
| 地 | chi | earth, land | number 9, |
| 電 | den | electricity | |
| 話 | wa | conversation | |
| 本 | hon | origin | |
| 局 | kyoku | office | |
| 五 | go | five | |
| 一 | ichi | one | |
| 四 | yon | four | Telephone |
| 四 | yon | four | main office 5144, |
| 滑 | katsu | slide | |
| 稽 | kei | think | |
| 堂 | dō | temple | Kokkeidō |
Provenance: Artelino