Edo prints
| Design: | Kitagawa Utamaro (1753-1806) | |||||
| Title: | Shiki no hana ge | |||||
| Size: | 30.2 x 21.2 cm | |||||
| Posthumous printing from newly cut woodblocks | ||||||
| Photography: | Jacques Commandeur |
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Originally released in 1801 by publisher Izumiya Ichibei (和泉屋市兵衛). This version was released in 1916 by publisher Yoshikawa Kōbunkan (吉川弘文館) from new woodblocks carved by Ōtsuka Yūji (大塚裕次).
Title printed in black on a white slip on the book cover:
| Character | Reading | Meaning | Translation |
| 四 | shi | four | |
| 季 | ki | seasons | |
| の | no | ’s | Flowers of the |
| 花 | hana | flowers | four seasons |
| 下 | ge | bottom | Second book |
This second book covers the seasons of autumn and winter. The full contents of this 1916 reproduction of the second volume of Utamaro’s Shiki no hana illustrated books can be seen on the website of the Pulverer Collection dedicated to Japanese illustrated books produced in the Edo period and beyond here and on David Bull’s Mokuhankan website here.
The topics of the prints depicted in this second volume are:
- Chrysanthemum
- Bon Festival lanterns and potted-plant seller
- Moon-viewing party
- Display of chrysanthemum
- Outing to view maples in autumn
- Interior scene on a snowy day
- Two geisha and an attendant caught in wind and rain at night
- Women on a verandah on a snowy morning
- Narcissus and wild chrysanthemum
References
- Asano, Shūgō, and Clark, Timothy (1995). The passionate art of Kitagawa Utamaro (2 volumes in slipcase). Tokyo: Asahi Shimbun.
Provenance: Utagawa123