Edo prints
| Design: | Utagawa Hiroshige (1797-1858) | |||||
| Title: | Winter: Sumida river in snow | |||||
| Series title: | Famous views of Edo in the four seasons | |||||
| Size: | 37.6 x 12.7 cm (chū tanzaku) | |||||
| Posthumous printing from newly carved woodblocks | ||||||
| Photography: | Jacques Commandeur |
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Originally issued ca 1834-1835 by publisher Kawaguchiya Shōzō. This is a later edition published by Takamizawa in the 1950s.
Artist’s signature in the middle right of the print area:
| Character | Reading | Meaning | Translation |
| 廣 | hiro | broad | |
| 重 | shige | heavy | Picture by |
| 画 | ga | picture | Hiroshige |
Followed by red kiwame censorship seal and red publisher Kawaguchiya Shōzō’s Kawashō seal, see Marks (2011, p. 79, seal number 25-354).
Series title in top left of the sky:
| Character | Reading | Meaning | Translation |
| 四 | shi | four | |
| 季 | ki | season | |
| 江 | kō | bay | |
| 都 | to | capital | |
| 名 | mei | reputation | Famous places of Edo |
| 所 | sho | place | in the four seasons |
Followed by print title:
| Character | Reading | Meaning | Translation |
| 冬 | fuyu | winter | |
| 隅 | sumi | corner | |
| 田 | ta | rice field | |
| 川 | kawa | river | |
| 之 | no | ’s | Winter: |
| 雪 | yuki | snow | Sumida river in snow |
The kyōka poem in the top left of the print reads:
Sumidagawa
mizu no ue nimo
furu yuki no
kienokoreru wa
miyakodori kamo
Even on the waters of Sumida river
the snow that falls fails to melt
- Or could they be seagulls?
Red publisher seal on verso of the print:
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The seal contains the following kanji:
| Character | Reading | Meaning | Translation |
| 高 | taka | high | |
| 見 | mi(ru) | see | |
| 澤 | sawa | swamp | |
| 版 | han | edition | Takamizawa edition |
References
- Forrer, Matthi (1997). Hiroshige, Prints and Drawings. London: Royal Academy of Arts and Prestel Verlag.
- Forrer, Matthi (2017). Hiroshige. Munich: Prestel Verlag.
- Marks, Andreas (2011). Publishers of Japanese Woodblock Prints: A Compendium. Leiden: Hotei Publishing.
- Uhlenbeck, Chris, and Jansen, Marije (2008). Hiroshige, Shaping the Image of Japan. Leiden: Hotei Publishing.
Provenance: Fuji Arts