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Meiji prints

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	Design:	Yamamoto Shōun (1870-1965)
	Print title:	Chatting
	Album/series title:	Shiki no Nagame (Scenes of the four seasons)
	Size:	20.3 x 30.2 cm (ōban)
	Original woodblock print
	Photography:	Jacques Commandeur

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Enlargement

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Special effects: metallic pigments on the teapot and cups on the table; embossing (kara-zuri) on the white geese in the background of the print.

Published in 1906 by Matsuki Heikichi.

This print has a vertical fold in the middle, meaning that it originally was issued as part of an orihon (i.e., folding book).

Artist’s signature in bottom right print area:

Character	Reading	Meaning	Translation
昇	shō	rise
雲	un	cloud	Shōun

Series title in right margin:

Character	Reading	Meaning	Translation
四	shi	four
季	ki	seasons
能	no	’s
な	na
可	ga		Scenes of the
免	me	scenes	four seasons

Followed by print title:

Character	Reading	Meaning	Translation
お	o	honorific prefix
話	hanashi	talk	Chatting

Printing and publishing dates in left margin:

Character	Reading	Meaning	Translation
明	mei	light	Printed in the
治	ji	government	Meiji era,
三	san	three
十	jū	ten
九	kyū	nine
年	nen	year	the 39th year (= 1906),
十	jū	ten
二	ni	two
月	gatsu	month	the 12th month (= December),
十	jū	ten
五	go	five
日	nichi	day
印	in	stamp
刷	satsu	print	the 15th day.
今	kon	now	Published in
年	nen	year	the same year,
今	kon	now
月	getsu	month	the same month,
廿	jūnyū	twenty
八	hachi	eight
日	nichi	day
発	hatsu	emit
行	kō	go	the 28th day.

Followed by the publisher’s address, name and telephone number:

Character	Reading	Meaning	Translation
画	ga	drawing
作	saku	make
印	in	stamp
刷	satsu	print
兼	ken	combine
発	hatsu	emit
行	kō	go	Painter, printer,
者	sha	person	and publisher,
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,
吉	yoshi	good luck
川	kawa	river
町	chō	quarter	Yoshikawa quarter,
二	ni	two
番	ban	number
地	chi	earth, land	number 2,
松	matsu	pine
木	ki	tree
平	hei	level
吉	kichi	good luck	Matsuki Heikichi,
電	den	electricity
話	wa	conversation
二	ni	two
千	sen	thousand
二	ni	two
百	hyaku	hundred
八	hachi	eight
十	jū	ten
六	roku	six
番	ban	number	telephone number: 2286.

Name and address of the publisher in romaji in left bottom margin: “Sold by Daikokaya, H. Matsuki, No. 2, Yoshikawa-cho, Ryogoku, Tokyo, Japan.”

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References

• Abe, Setsuko. Yamamoto Shōun. Prints of beautiful women of new customs and manners. Andon 41, 1992, pp. 19-21.

• Harris, Frederick. Yamamoto Shōun (1870-1965). Andon 66, 2000, pp. 28-36.

• Hokkaidō Obihiro Museum Of Art (1998). Meiji no ukiyo-e hanga (Ukiyo-e woodblock prints of the Meiji period). Hokkaidō: Hokkaidō Obihiro Museum Of Art and Hokkaidō Shinbun Press.

• Merritt, Helen, and Yamada, Nanako (1992). Guide to Modern Japanese Woodblock Prints: 1900 - 1975. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press.

• Narazaki, Muneshige, ed. (1990). Ukiyo-e Masterpieces in Western collections. The Robert O. Muller Collection. Tokyo: Kodansha International.

• Newland, Amy Reigle (2021). Printed and painted. The Meiji art of Ogata Gekkō (1859-1920). Leiden: Hotei Publishing.

• Ōta Memorial Museum of Art (2006). Yamamoto Shōun. Special Exhibition Collection of the Museum of Art, Kochi. Tokyo: Ōta Memorial Museum of Art.

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Provenance: Art Shop Ezoshi in Kyoto, with many thanks to Chris Uhlenbeck of Hotei Japanese Prints for finding this album for me during his autumn 2025 visit to Japan