Edo prints
| Design: | Utagawa Hiroshige (1797-1858) | |||||
| Title: | Hakone, view of the lake | |||||
| Series title: | The fifty-three stations of the Tōkaidō road | |||||
| Size: | 22.4 x 35.0 cm (ōban) | |||||
| Posthumous printing from newly cut woodblocks | ||||||
| Photography: | Jacques Commandeur |
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Special effects: karazuri (embossing) on the slopes of Mount Fuji in the distance.
Originally published by Takenouchi Magohachi ca. 1831-1834. This reproduction was published by Takamizawa.
Kiwame (“approved”) censorship seal in lower left margin.
Artist’s signature in bottom right of print area:
| Character | Reading | Meaning | Translation |
| 広 | hiro | broad | |
| 重 | shige | heavy | Picture by |
| 画 | ga | picture | Hiroshige |
Followed by red Hōeidō (保永堂) publisher seal, indicating that this print belongs to Hiroshige’s first - and in my opinion best - woodblock print series dedicated to the 53 stations of the Tōkaidō road.
Series title in top left print area:
| Character | Reading | Meaning | Translation |
| 東 | tō | east | |
| 海 | kai | street | |
| 道 | dō | way | |
| 五 | go | five | |
| 拾 | jū | ten | |
| 三 | san | three | |
| 次 | tsugi | next | |
| の | no | ’s | The fifty-three stations |
| 内 | uchi | inside | of the Tōkaidō road |
Followed by the name of the station:
| Character | Reading | Meaning | Translation |
| 箱 | hako | box | |
| 根 | ne | root | Hakone |
And the print title in a rectangular red seal:
| Character | Reading | Meaning | Translation |
| 湖 | ko | lake | |
| 水 | sui | water | |
| 図 | zu | view | View of the lake |
The print comes with two leaflets: one leaflet containing general information on the Hōeidō version of the 53 stations of the Tōkaidō road by Hiroshige (click to enlarge):
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| Series leaflet (front) | Series leaflet (back) |
and a second leaflet containing technical information on the making of these prints, as well as information on the specific location of this print in the series (click to enlarge):
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| Print leaflet (front) | Print leaflet (back) |
The column with large kanji on the bottom left of the front of the print leaflet contains the name of the publisher of this very nice reproduction:
| Character | Reading | Meaning | Translation |
| 高 | taka | high | |
| 見 | mi(ru) | see | |
| 沢 | sawa | marsh | |
| 木 | moku | wood | |
| 版 | han | block | Takamizawa |
| 社 | sha | company | woodblock company |
References
- Forrer, Matthi (1997). Hiroshige, Prints and Drawings. London: Royal Academy of Arts and Prestel Verlag.
- Forrer, Matthi (2017). Hiroshige. Munich: Prestel Verlag.
- Shiraishi, Tsutomu (1988). Hiroshige Tōkaidō gojūsantsugi. Keio gijuku Takahashi Seiichirō ukiyo-e korekushon. Tokyo: Shogakukan.
Provenance: Fuji Arts