Meiji prints


  Design: Ikeda Terukata (1883-1921)  
  Print title: Title page/Introduction/Table of contents print  
  Album/series title: Edo no Nishiki (Brocade pictures of Edo)  
  Size: 21.1 x 31.7 cm (ōban)  
  Original woodblock print    
  Photography: Jacques Commandeur
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Ikeda Terukata Edo no Nishiki Table of contents

Enlargement


Special effects: silver metallic pigments on the second fan in the background.

The text in this print*) contains an introduction to the Edo no Nishiki album and its table of contents. In the introduction publisher Akiyama Buemon explains his reasons for publishing this album. The sixth column from the right of the text mentions the name of the designer of the prints in this album:

Character Reading Meaning Translation
       
ike pond  
ta ricefield  
kagaya(ku) shine  
kata person Ikeda Terukata

The ninth column from the right contains the following yojijukugo (four character compound):

Character Reading Meaning Translation
       
on warm  
ko the late  
chi wisdom  
shin new To learn from the past

One of the reasons for publishing this album was thus “to discover new things by studying the past”, or “to learn from the past”.

Publisher’s firm name in left most column of the text:

Character Reading Meaning Translation
       
kotsu slide  
kei think  
temple Kokkeidō
shu chief  
jin person proprietor

Followed by a red oval seal with the publisher’s name:

Character Reading Meaning Translation
       
a    
ki    
ya    
man ten thousand Akiyama

Album title in the next column of the text:

Character Reading Meaning Translation
       
e bay  
do door  
no ’s Brocade pictures
nishiki brocade of Edo
       
moku eye  
ji next Table of contents

Followed by the titles of the fifteen individual prints:

Character Reading Meaning Translation
       
usu light  
ge change  
shō adorn Light make-up
       
tsure emptiness  
dzure -like Tediousness
       
ko flirt  
bi beauty  
tsu    
ka   Flirting beauty
hi mission on a mission
       
chiri fall  
sa    
ku   Falling
ra cherry blossoms cherry blossoms
       
ha    
ru    
no    
hi day Spring day
       
i    
so beach  
hi    
yo   Fine weather
ri fine weather at the beach
       
shi  
gure   Seasonal rain
       
natsu summer  
ma    
tsu    
ri festival Summer festival
       
ha    
shi bridge  
no ’s  
   
gure twilight Twilight on a bridge
       
hana flower  
ta    
yo    
ri letter Flower letter
       
to    
mo    
shi    
bi lamp A lantern
       
a    
ki autumn  
no ’s  
yoru evening Autumn evening
       
ō big  
sa sand  
sho shore Big shore
       
mo red  
miji leaf  
gari hunt Autumn-leaf viewing
       
fu    
bu    
ki snow storm Snow storm

Red square seals with the names of the printer and carver in the left bottom of the front fan in this print:

Character Reading Meaning Translation
       
in stamp  
satsu print Printer:
yama mountain  
ta rice field Yamada
       
ho(ru) carve  
shō artisan Carver:
mune religion  
oka hill Muneoka

The full name of the carver is Muneoka Shinkichi (1862-1929).


References


Provenance: Second-hand bookstore Sugimoto Ryoedo in Osaka.

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

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