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Title: Early Spring [初春之図] (Hatsuharu no zu); Series: Fashionable Twelve Months [今様十二ヶ月] (Imayo juni-kagetsu). Another version of translation: Modern Beauties of Twelve Months. Artist: Utagawa Toyokuni I [歌川豊国] (1769–1825). Pubisher: Ibaya Senzaburō [伊場屋仙三郎] (Japanese, 1815 – 1869), seal: Dansendō [伊場仙]. Signed: Toyokuni ga [豊国画] and sealed with toshidama. Date-kiwame seal: Ushi (ox), Bunsei 5 (1822). Size: double-sheet uncut fan print ( aiban uchiwa-e), each 217 x 288 mm. Ref: Tokyo Museum Collection.
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Artist: Utagawa Kunisada [歌川 国貞] a.k.a. Utagawa Toyokuni III [三代歌川豊国] (Japanese, 1786 – 1865). Pubisher (accorfding to Suzuki & Oka): Ibaya Senzaburō [伊場屋仙三郎] (Japanese, 1815 – 1869), Dansendō [伊場仙]. Title: Beauty holding a roll of paper (by seller); A woman of Edo (by Suzuki & Oka) Date seal and aratame censor seal: 1822 (Bunsei 5). Signed: Gototei Kunisada ga [五渡亭国貞画]. Media: Untrimmed fan print (uchiwa-e), 228 x 295 mm. Ref: [LIB-3085.2022] Jūzō Suzuki, Isaburō Oka. “The decadents”. — Tokyo: Kodansha International, 1969, p. 35, plate 30: exactly this print:
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Artist: Utagawa Kunisada, a.k.a. Toyokuni III (Japanese, 1786 – 1865) [歌川 国貞]. Publisher: Ibaya Senzaburō [伊場屋仙三郎] (Japanese, fl. C. 1845 – 1847). Date aratame seal: Bunsei 12 (1829). Signed: Gototei Kunisada ga [五渡亭国貞画]. Media: Fan print (uchiwa-e), 238 x 267 mm (overtrimmed). Actor: Iwai Shijaku I [紫若] (Japanese, 1804 – 1845); other names: Iwai Matsunosuke I [岩井松之助]; Iwai Hanshirō VII, Iwai Shijaku I, Iwai Komurasaki I. The background is Arare-ko-mon [霰小紋] hail pattern. In the red cartouche at the top right is the series title "Edo no hana – itsutsu Karigane" (江戸の花 五雁金), to be translated as "Flowers of Edo - the five Karigane blood-brothers" (or "the five Karigane gang members"). Another print from the series in this collection: SVJP-0304.2019.
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Artist: Utagawa Kuniyoshi [歌川 國芳] (Japanese, 1798 – 1861). Publisher: Ibaya Senzaburō [伊場屋仙三郎] (Japanese, fl. C. 1845 – 1847), seal: San [三] (Marks 11-001 | 127c). Carver: Matsushima Fusajirō [松嶋房次郎] (Japanese, fl. 1843 – 1850); seal [彫工房次郎] – Hori kō Fusajirō (Gordon Friese № 136) Signed: Chōōrō Kuniyoshi ga [朝櫻楼国芳画] in a red double gourd-shaped cartouche. Nanushi censor seal: Tanaka [田中]; V/1844 or II/1845. Media: Fan print (uchiwa-e, 団扇絵), 238 x 304 mm. Reference: Kuniyoshi Project. Series mentioned in Robert Schaap. Heroes and ghosts: Japanese prints by Kuniyoshi, 1797-1861.— Leiden: Hotei Publishing, 1998; p. 122 [LIB-1030.2016].
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Artist: Utagawa Kunisada [歌川 国貞], a.k.a. Utagawa Toyokuni III [三代 歌川 豊国] (Japanese, 1786 – 1865). Signed: Toyokuni ga [豊国 画] in a red toshidama cartouche Block carver: Yokokawa Takejirō [横川竹二郎] (Japanese, fl. 1845 – 1863), seal: 彫竹 – hori Take. Publisher: Ibaya Senzaburō [伊場屋仙三郎] (Japanese, fl. c. 1845 – 1847). Media: Untrimmed fan print (uchiwa-e), 238 x 304 mm. Title: Saiko (West River) [西江]; 西江 means the Xi River in China. Series: Chronicles of Elegant Women [風雅女史傳] (Fūga joshiden). Combined date seal and kiwame censor seal: Ansei 6 (1859). Other prints from the same series in this collection: SVJP-0216.2016 — Princess Sotoori:
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NEWTitle: The Secret Meeting between Ushiwakamaru and the Daughter of Kiichi Hōgen (Kiichi Hōgen ga hisho o miro) [鬼一法眼が秘書をみる] Series: Scenes from the life of Ushiwaka (Ushiwaka zue) [牛若図会] Artist: Utagawa Hiroshige [歌川 広重] a.k.a. Andō Hiroshige [安藤 広重] (Japanese, 1797 – 1858) Signature: Hiroshige ga [廣重画] Dimensions: Aiban yoko-e uchiwa-e, 226 x 303 mm. Censor seal: Hama & Magome [濱 / 馬込]: 1/1849 – 2/1852 (Kaei 2-5) Publisher: Ibaya Senzaburō [伊場屋仙三郎] (Japanese, fl. C. 1845 – 1847), seal: San [三] (Marks 11-001 | 127c). According to Rupert Faulkner (2001), another copy of this fan print is housed at Ōta Memorial Museum (ŌMM 1998, № 258). There are four other known prints from this series: (1) The Meeting at Yahagi: The Beginnings of the Jorurijunidan Story (Yahagi no Shuku Jorurijunidan no Hajime); (2) Ushiwakamaru practising swordsmanship at Sojogatani (ŌMM 1998, no.256); (3) Ushiwakamaru's encounter with Benkei on Gojo Bridge (Matsuki 1924, no.93); and (4) Ise no Saburo swearing an oath of loyalty to Ushiwakamaru (Kanagawa Prefectural Museum of Cultural History). Kiichi Hōgen [鬼一法眼] is a legendary monk and warrior who trained Ushiwakamaru (young Minamoto no Yoshitsune) in swordsmanship, tactics, and magic. Another print (Ushiwakamaru's encounter with Benkei on Gojo Bridge) from this series is in the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago under the title Killing One Thousand People at Gojo Bridge (Gojo no hashi sennin kiri). Reference: (1) Rupert Faulkner. Hiroshige Fan Prints / Victoria and Albert Museum, Far Eastern Series. — London: V&A Publications; NY: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 2001. (2) Christophe Marquet. Hiroshige: Les éventails d'Edo / Estampes de la collection Georges Leskowicz. — Paris: In fine, 2022. [Thanks to Horst Graebner].