Meiji prints
| Design: | Mizuno Hidekata (1875-1944) | |||||
| Print title: | Sudden Shower | |||||
| Album/series title: | Katei no Hana (Household flowers) | |||||
| Size: | 21.7 x 31.4 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 in Meiji 40 (1907) by Akiyama Buemon.
Artist’s name in lower right of the print:
| Character | Reading | Meaning | Translation |
| 秀 | hiide(ru) | excel | |
| 方 | kata | person | Hidekata |
followed by red Hidekata seal reading:
| Character | Reading | Meaning | Translation |
| 秀 | hiide(ru) | excel | |
| 方 | kata | person | |
| 女 | onna | woman | Ms. Hidekata |
Series title and print number in light blue cartouche in right margin:
| Character | Reading | Meaning | Translation |
| 家 | ka | house | |
| 庭 | tei | garden | |
| の | no | ’s | |
| 花 | hana | flower | Household flowers, |
| 九 | kyū | nine | Nine |
Publisher’s address and firm name in middle of bottom margin:
| Character | Reading | Meaning | Translation |
| 東 | tō | east | |
| 京 | kyō | capital | |
| 市 | shi | city | Tokyo city, |
| 日 | ni | sun | |
| 本 | hon | origin | |
| 橋 | hashi | bridge | |
| 区 | 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, |
| 滑 | kotsu | slide | |
| 稽 | kei | think | |
| 堂 | dō | temple | Kokkeidō |
English print title ‘Sudden Shower’ in left bottom margin.
Provenance: Rare Illustrated Books