Shin Hanga prints
| Design: | Tsuchiya Kōitsu (1870-1949) | |||||
| Title: | Nara Kōfuku temple | |||||
| Size: | 39.2 x 25.7 cm (dai ōban) | |||||
| Posthumous printing from the original woodblocks | ||||||
| Photography: | Jacques Commandeur |
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Watermark in upper left-hand margin corner consisting of the kanji 土 pronounced as do - the first character of the publisher’s name Doi (土井) - located in the center of a surrounding circle.
Print title and original publishing date in right margin:
| Character | Reading | Meaning | Translation |
| 奈 | na | ||
| 良 | ryō | good | Nara |
| 興 | kō | interest | |
| 福 | fuku | blessing | Kōfuku |
| 寺 | ji | temple | temple |
| 昭 | shō | clear | |
| 和 | wa | peace | |
| 十 | jū | ten | |
| 二 | ni | two | Made in |
| 年 | nen | year | the 6th month of |
| 六 | roku | six | the 12th year of |
| 月 | gatsu | month | the Shōwa era |
| 作 | saku | make | (i.e., June 1937) |
Publisher seal K33-DG-Yo-Hd (see Walker and Doi, 2008) in left margin:
| Character | Reading | Meaning | Translation |
| 版 | han | edition | |
| 権 | ken | right | |
| 所 | sho | place | |
| 有 | yū | have | All rights reserved |
| 土 | do | earth | |
| 井 | i | a well | Doi |
| 版 | han | printing block | |
| 画 | ga | picture | |
| 店 | ten | shop | Hangaten |
Followed by seals with surnames of printer Yokoi (横井) Giichi (義一) and carver Harada (原田) Kametarō (亀太郎) in katakana:
| Character | Reading | Meaning | Translation |
| 摺 | suri | printer | Printer: |
| ヨ | yo | ||
| コ | ko | ||
| イ | i | Yokoi | |
| 彫 | hori | carver | Carver: |
| ハ | ha | ||
| ラ | ra | ||
| ダ | da | Harada |
These seals indicate that this copy of the print was produced somewhere between 1950 and 1963.
Artist’s name in bottom right-hand corner of the print area, together with red Shin seal:
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in which the three kanji read:
| Character | Reading | Meaning | Translation |
| 光 | kō | light | |
| 逸 | itsu | diverge | Kōitsu |
| 真 | shin | true | true |
References
- Ross Walker’s Kōitsu website
- Walker, Ross, and Doi, Toshikazu (2008). The Catalogue Raisonné of Tsuchiya Koitsu. Meiji to Shin-Hanga, Watercolours to Woodblocks. Otsu City, Shiga, Japan: Ohmi Gallery Publishing.
Provenance: An auction held in December 2013 by the Floating World gallery