Meiji prints
| Design: | Yamamoto Shōun (1870-1965) | |||||
| Print title: | Hina dolls | |||||
| Album/series title: | Shiki no Nagame (Scenes of the four seasons) | |||||
| Size: | 20.3 x 30.1 cm (ōban) | |||||
| Original woodblock print | ||||||
| Photography: | Jacques Commandeur |
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Special effects: metallic pigments on the hairpin and the obi of the lady on the right, and on the yellow dress of the doll and the two yellow drawers at the bottom of the doll display in the background of the print.
Published in 1906 by Matsuki Heikichi.
This print has a vertical fold in the middle as it is part of an orihon (i.e., folding album).
Artist’s signature and red seal in the middle left area of the print:
| 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 | ||
| ひ | hi | ||
| な | na | ||
| 様 | sama | polite suffix | Hina dolls |
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.
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