Utagawa Kuniyoshi. Young woman with a shamisen, from the series Collection of charming music (Enkyoku-zoroi: Kan Hakkei) / Fan print, 1853.

Artist: Utagawa Kuniyoshi [歌川 國芳] (Japanese, 1798 – 1861)

Publisher: British Museum provides the title as Enkyoku-zoroi [艶曲揃] (Set of Voluptuous Melodies) and the publisher as Sanpei. Indeed, 三平 (Sanpei) was a wholesale fan shop at the end of the Edo period. However, Andreas Marks identifies the publisher’s seal as 三平 Mihei = Mikawaya Heiroku (1848-56), a member of the Fan Producing Guild (AM 11-016|325a).

Block carver: Yokokawa Takejirō [横川 竹二郎] (Japanese, fl. c. 1845–1863), seal: Hori Take [彫竹]

Signed: 一勇斎 國芳 画 (Ichiyūsai Kuniyoshi ga) in a red cartouche and sealed with paulownia (kiri mon)

Date seal and double nanushi censor seals: Fuku & Muramatsu, 1853 (Kaei 6, 2^nd month)

Size: Uchiwa-e (untrimmed fan print) 296 x 230 mm

Catalogue raisonné: Ōta Memorial №197

From the book Fan Pictures by Kuniyoshi: Cats, Kabuki Actors, and Girls (in Japanese). — Tokyo: Ōta Memorial Museum of Art, 2012 [LIB-3466.2025]  (Kuniyoshi no uchiwa-e: neko to kabuki to chyakyachyaki musume, 国芳の団扇絵 猫と歌舞伎とチャキチャキ娘)

Series: 艶曲揃 (Enkyoku-zoroi), “Set of Amorous Songs”

Date: 嘉永六年二月 (Kaei 6, 2nd month, i.e. February 1853)
Publisher: 三川屋平六 (Mikawaya Heiroku)
Censor: 村松 (Muramatsu)
Carver: 彫竹 (hori Take)

The fan prints in the Enkyoku-zoroi series depict women reading romantic texts or engaged in leisurely pursuits. Each design corresponds to a poetic or musical theme, with titles evoking place names, flowers, or literary references. The entries 196 through 199 are all first impressions (初摺), suggesting they are among the earliest prints issued in the series.

British Museum # 2008,3037.22006 – not in the Ōta catalogue; 「艶曲揃　土用見舞」 (Enkyoku-zoroi: Doyō mimai) or Beauty by a koto reading a libretto

№ 196: 艶曲揃「安宅の松」– shows a woman reading a long jōruri (narrative ballad) titled Ataka no Matsu (Pine of Ataka)

№ 197:  艶曲揃「寒八景」– depicts a woman reading a copy of Chikamatsu Monzaemon’s kabuki play Kan Hakkei.

№ 198: 艶曲揃「山帰強桔梗」– features Yamakaeri kyō kikyō, referencing a seasonal poetic theme.

№ 199: 艶曲揃「義経千本桜 校合摺」(Ōta Memorial only possesses a proof print) – related to Yoshitsune Senbon Zakura (“Yoshitsune and the Thousand Cherry Trees”), one of the most popular jidaimono plays.

Another copy of Ōta 197, probably printed later (below), with muted colours but wider margins, size 240 x 297 mm, in this collection under catalogue number SVJP-0507.2025:

SVJP-0507.2025 front	SVJP-0507.2025 back