Meiji prints
| Design: | Ikeda Terukata (1883-1921) | |||||
| Print title: | Young woman at the sakura bathhouse | |||||
| Album/series title: | Edo no Nishiki (Brocade pictures of Edo) | |||||
| Size: | 21.1 x 31.6 cm (ōban) | |||||
| Original woodblock print | ||||||
| Photography: | Jacques Commandeur |
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Special effects: burnishing (sho-men-zuri) on the woman’s hair, and on the collar and obi of her kimono. Embossed fabric printing (nuno-me-zuri) on the towels in her mouth and hand.
Published ca. Meiji 43 (1910) by Akiyama Buemon.
This print has no vertical fold in the middle, meaning that it originally was issued separately and not as part of an orihon (i.e., folding book).
The text on the lantern outside this public bath-house reads:
| Character | Reading | Meaning | Translation |
| さ | sa | ||
| く | ku | ||
| ら | ra | cherry | |
| 湯 | yu | bath | Cherry bath*) |
Artist’s name in lower right of the print:
| Character | Reading | Meaning | Translation |
| 輝 | kagaya(ku) | shine | |
| 方 | kata | person | Terukata |
Series title in pink cartouche in right margin:
| Character | Reading | Meaning | Translation |
| 江 | e | inlet, bay | |
| 戸 | do | door | Brocade |
| の | no | of | pictures |
| 錦 | nishiki | brocade | of Edo |
Printer’s name (from right to left) in bottom left margin:
| Character | Reading | Meaning | Translation |
| 山 | yama | mountain | |
| 田 | ta | rice field | Yamada |
| 印 | in | stamp | |
| 刷 | satsu | printer |
Publisher’s address and name (from right to left) in middle bottom margin:
| Character | Reading | Meaning | Translation |
| 東 | tō | east | |
| 京 | kyō | capital | |
| 市 | shi | city | Tokyo city, |
| 日 | nichi | sun | |
| 本 | hon | origin | |
| 橋 | hashi | bridge | Nihonbashi |
| 區 | ku | district | district, |
| 室 | muro | greenhouse | |
| 町 | machi | quarter | Muro quarter, |
| 三 | san | three | |
| 丁 | chō | house block | |
| 目 | me | count suffix | 3rd house block, |
| 九 | kyū | nine | |
| 番 | ban | number | |
| 地 | chi | earth, land | number 9, |
| 秋 | aki | autumn | |
| 山 | yama | mountain | Akiyama |
| 武 | bu | military | |
| 右 | u | right | |
| エ | ku | artisan | |
| 門 | mon | gate | Buemon |
References
- Newland, Amy Reigle, and Shinji, Hamanaka (2000). The female image. Leiden: Hotei Publishing.
- Newland, Amy Reigle (2021). Printed and painted. The Meiji art of Ogata Gekkō (1859-1920). Leiden: Hotei Publishing.
Provenance: Chris Uhlenbeck’s Hotei Japanese Prints
*) Gratefully acknowledging David Bull for pointing this out to me.