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Meiji prints

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	Design:	Kobayashi Kiyochika (1847-1915)
	Print title:	February: A snowy twilight at Matsuchiyama hill
	Series title:	Views of the famous places in Tokyo
	Size:	35.1 x 23.6 cm (ōban)
	Original woodblock print
	Photography:	Jacques Commandeur

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Enlargement

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Special effects: embossing (kara-zuri) on the snow.

Published in 1896 by Inoue Kichijirrō.

This triptych offers a great view from Mokujima in Tokyo towards the west bank of the Sumida river. In the background we see the west bank of the Sumida river, with on the left Shōden shrine located on top of Matsuchiyama hill, and Imado bridge crossing the mouth of the San’yabori canal leading up to the famous Yoshiwara district. On both sides of this bridge many restaurants are located. More to the right Imadochō quarter is displayed. In the foreground we see the Takeya ferry about to make its crossing from Mimeguri Inari shrine in Mokujima to Imado bridge on the west bank of the river.

Specifically, in this left part of the triptych another Takeya watashibune or ferry boat can be seen approaching its mooring point on the west bank of the Sumida just left of Imado bridge where new passengers are already waiting to board the ferry for crossing back to the east bank of the river. Near the west bank also one takasebune or shallow river boat transporting cargo, and two yanebune or roof boats can be seen sailing down the Sumida river.

My copy of this triptych unfortunately has trimmed margins. But as can be seen in Smith (1988, p.103), the left margin of this left print of the triptych contains the following text^*). First the printing and publishing dates of this triptych:

Character	Reading	Meaning	Translation
明	mei	light
治	ji	government	Printed in the Meiji era,
廿	ni jū	twenty
九	kyū	nine
年	nen	year	the 29th year (= 1896),
三	san	three
月	gatsu	month	the 3rd month (= March),
七	nana	seven
日	ka	day	the 7th day,
印	in	stamp
刷	satsu	print
十	tō	ten
日	ka	day
発	hatsu	departure	published
行	kō	go	on the 10th (of March)

Then followed by the address and name of the publisher:

Character	Reading	Meaning	Translation
臨	rin	special
字	ji	letter
印	in	stamp
刷	satsu	print	Letter printer
兼	ken	and
発	hatsu	departure
行	kō	go
者	mono	person	and publisher:
日	ni	sun
本	hon	origin
橋	hashi	bridge
区	ku	district	Nihonbashi-ku,
本	hon	origin
町	machi	town	Honmachi
二	ni	two
丁	cho	wait
目	me	capital	second houseblock,
十	jū	ten
番	ban	number
地	chi	land	house number 10,
井	ino	well
上	ue	up
吉	kichi	good fortune
次	ji	next
郎	rō	man	Inoue Kichijirrō

A simultaneous view of the prints in this triptych from the Robert O. Muller collection including the margins can be seen here.

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On this print Henry D. Smith (1988) comments: ‘ Second month: Matsuchi Hill at Dusk under Snow ... is the finest of all Kiyochika’s triptychs of the years after the war with China. The composition reflects both the influence of traditional painting, with large areas of unprinted white, and Kiyochika’s own Western-influenced taste for the use of enlarged foreground objects. The object in this case is the Takeya ferry that crossed the Sumida river from Mimeguri shrine to Imado bridge at the entrance to San’ya Canal.’

For more information on Imado bridge, the San’ya canal, and Matsuchiyama hill, please also visit my Hokusai Ehon Sumidagawa website.

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References

• Smith, Henry D. (1988). Kiyochika. Artist of Meiji Japan. Santa Barbara: Santa Barbara Museum of Art.

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Provenance: Collecting Japanese Prints (CJP)

^*) With many thanks to Naoko and Shinji Ōba for helping me with the translation of the text in this print.