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 seal with the publisher’s name:

Character Reading Meaning Translation
       
a    
ki    
ya    
man ten thousand Akiyama

Red 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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