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Japanese Colour-Prints and Their Designers

CATALOGUE

HISHIKAWA MORONOBU

Moronobu, who was born probably in 1625 and died in 1695, was the first important Japanese artist to design prints. As a painter he is highly renowned. He illustrated many books and made a considerable number of single-sheet prints, which were all either in plain black or coloured by hand. His works are now very rare.6

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1 Large sumi-yé (ink print). Matsukaze-Murasame; a nobleman and two ladies at the seashore watching two women dipping salt water in buckets.
2 Sumi-yé. A man and a woman seated on the floor of a room.
3 Sumi-yé. Woman reading from a book to a man reclining on the floor by her side. Near them a maid-servant and utensils containing refreshments.

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4 Sumi-yé. Scene in the Yoshiwara.

TORII KIYONOBU

Founder of the Torii line and one of the leading artists of the Ukiyoé school. Inventor of the tan-yé, or prints coloured by hand with red lead (Japanese tan). He was born in 1664 and died on August 22, 1729. His style of drawing was characterized by great boldness and vigour.

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5 Large tan-yé. The actor Dekijima Hanya as a woman seated upon a sakura tree in bloom.
6 Small tan-yé. The actor Ikushima Daikichi as a woman holding two small dogs.
7 Small tan-yé. The actor Kamimura Kichisaburo as a dancing-girl.
8 Large hand-coloured print. The actor Ikushima Daikichi as an oiran on parade, followed by O̅tani Hiroji as a servant holding an umbrella over her.
9 Tall hand-coloured print. The actor Bando Hikosaburo.

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10 Urushi-yé. Ichikawa Monnosuke as a strolling player carrying a monkey on his back.

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11 Urushi-yé. The elopement of Yaoya Hanbei and O-Chiya.

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12 Urushi-yé. A dancing-girl.

TORII KIYOMASU

Eldest son of Kiyonobu, whom he succeeded as the head of the Torii line. His work closely resembles that of his father. He was born about 1685 and died on January 2, 1764.

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KIYONAGA. Holiday Group at Gotenyama.
KIYONAGA. Holiday Group at Gotenyama.
13 Large sumi-yé. An actors' boating party on the Sumidagawa.
14 Large tan-yé. The actors Yoshizawa Ayame and Kanto Koroku.
15 Large tan-yé. The actors Kanto Koroku and Ikushima Daikichi.
16 Large beni-yé. Ichikawa Danju̅ro̅ as an enraged warrior.
17 Beni-yé. Onoe Kikugoro̅ in a female rôle.
18 Beni-yé. Scene from a drama. The actors Tomazawa Saijiro̅ (on horseback), O̅tani Hiroji, and Segawa Kikunojo̅. The beni has turned to a low-toned yellow.
19 Urushi-yé. Scene from a drama. O̅tani Oniji (on horseback) threatening Sannogawa Ichimatsu in the rôle of a woman who has seized his bridle rein.
20 Beni-yé. Scene from a drama. Sawamura Soju̅ro̅ as Sasaki no Saburo̅ and Nakamura Tomiju̅ro̅ as Mago no Koroku.

FURUYAMA MOROMASA

Pupil, and perhaps the son, of Moronobu. He devoted himself chiefly to painting, but designed a few prints, most of which are ukiyé, or perspective pictures, in the style of Okumura Masanobu.

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21 Large hand-coloured ukiyé, or perspective print. A game of ken in a room in a nobleman's house.

OKUMURA MASANOBU

One of the most eminent of the Ukiyoé artists. His drawings were greatly admired for their rare combination of force and refinement, and he exercised wide influence over his contemporaries and successors to the end of the eighteenth century. He was the first artist to use blocks from which prints were coloured in flat tints. These were printed in the red known as beni, green, and black, and were known as beni-yé. He was also the first artist to make the tall, narrow pillar prints (ha-shira-yé), and was the inventor of the perspective prints which he called ukiyé. His true name was Okumura Genpachi, and he was commonly known as honya (bookseller) Genpachi, from the fact that he was the proprietor of a wholesale and retail book and print shop at the sign of the “red gourd” in Tori-shio cho̅, Yedo.

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22 Large sumi-yé. Woman seated by a writing-table, reading a book.
23 Urushi-yé. Bando Hikosaburo as a warrior resisting the opening of a castle door.
24 Tall beni-yé. A geisha playing upon a samisen.
25 Large sumi-yé. A woman with a pet cat watching a man dip water from a chozubachi.

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26 Large beni-yé. Segawa Kikunojo̅ as an oiran lighting her pipe at a hibachi in the hands of her kamuro, and Sannogawa Ichimatsu as a man holding an umbrella over her.
27 Undivided beni-yé triptych. Street scene. A boy kneeling to put on a woman's geta; a man playing upon a shakuhachi; and another man carrying an umbrella.
28 Undivided triptych. Three women carrying umbrellas.

OKUMURA TOSHINOBU

Toshinobu, the son of Masanobu, was an artist of decided talent who died young. His known works, which resemble those of his father, are all urushi-yé, and were designed about 1730-1736.

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29 Ichimura Uzaemon as a dancing-girl.
30 Woman dressing.
31 Sanjo Kentaro̅ in a female rôle.

TSUNEKAWA SHIGENOBU

An early Ukiyoé artist of whom little is known. His prints are extremely rare.

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32 Urushi-yé. Arashi Wakano in the rôle of Shida no Kotaro̅.

NISHIMURA SHIGENAGA

Son of Shigenobu. Born in 1697 and died in 1756. An artist of ability who exercised marked influence upon the development of the school. His prints are very uneven in quality.

[pg 35]

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33 Tall hand-coloured print. The actor Sannogawa Ichimatsu as a woman holding a folded letter.

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34 Urushi-yé. Segawa Kikunojo as a woman holding a warrior's helmet.
35 Beni-yé. Procession of the Corean ambassadors.

ISHIKAWA TOYONOBU

One of the most important of the Ukiyoé masters. Born in 1711, died in 1785. Pupil of Shigenaga, and probably of Masanobu whose style he closely assimilated.

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36 Large beni-yé. The actors Segawa Kikunojo and Sannogawa Ichimatsu.

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37 Wide print from three colour-blocks. Women and children at the seashore.

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38 Tall hand-coloured print. Segawa Kikunojo̅ as a woman reading a letter.
39 Two sheets from a beni-yé triptych. Musume carrying umbrellas.

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40 Beni-yé. Mother and son.
41 Print from three colour-blocks. Boys rolling a large snowball.
42 Print from three colour-blocks. Man struggling with a refractory umbrella; a woman looking on.
[pg 36]

TORII KIYOHIRO

KIYONAGA. Picnic Party.
KIYONAGA. Picnic Party.

Pupil of Kiyomasu. His known works are exclusively beni-yé, executed from about 1745 to about 1755.

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43 Beni-yé. Nakamura Hatsugoro̅ as Sakura no Suké.

TORII SHIRO

Known as Kiyonobu the second, all of his prints being signed Torii Kiyonobu. He was the eldest son of Kiyomasu. Worked from about 1740 to about 1755, when it is probable that his death occurred. Some of the most charming of the beni-yé prints are from his hand.

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44 Beni-yé. Yamamoto Iwanojo̅ as a woman dancing by a fox-trap in a rice field under a blossoming cherry tree.

TORII KIYOMITSU

Second son of Kiyomasu, whom he succeeded as the head of the Torii line. An artist of distinction. Was the first to add a third colour-block to the original two. He was born in 1735 and died in 1785. After 1765 he designed only a few prints, and appears to have designed none later than about 1768.

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45 Wide print from three colour-blocks. The No̅ performance of “Musume Do̅jo̅ji.”
46 Wide print from three colour-blocks. Daimyo procession game by women and children.
47 Print from three colour-blocks. Iwai Hanshiro̅ as a woman reading a letter while seated upon a carabao.
48 Beni-yé. Scene from a drama. Ichimura Kamezo̅ (standing) as Wakemi Goro̅ and Nakamura Tomiju̅ro̅ as Akoya.

SUZUKI HARUNOBU

The central figure in Ukiyoé and the eminent master under whose hand the art of colour-printing was brought to perfection in the sixties of the eighteenth century. He was a draughtsman of extreme elegance and power, and his works have a charm that is peculiarly their own. He died on July 7, 1770, when, says Shiba Kokan in his book “Kokan Kokai-ki,” he “had hardly passed his fortieth year.”

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49 Girl attendant in an archery gallery gathering up arrows. One sheet of a diptych.
50 A young woman showing a caged bird to a young man seated before her, and surreptitiously taking a love letter from him.
51 A vendor of fan mounts stopping to talk to a young woman standing in front of a shop.
52 Hashira-yé. Woman writing a love letter.
53 Hashira-yé. Woman holding a pet dog.
54 Burlesque scene. Girls carrying Daikoku (the genius of wealth—one of the “Seven Fortune-beings”).

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55 Girls carrying Daikoku. A later impression with different colouring.
56 An archer and two girls near a screen. Calendar for 1765.
57 Young woman before a torii, carrying a hammer and nails with which to perform an incantation.
58 Two young women on their way to the public bath-house through a storm of snow and rain.
59 Two girls on a terrace near a torii, in the time of the cherry-blossoming.
60 Two girls gathering mume flowers from a tree overhanging a wall.
61 Woman reading a letter by the light of an andon (portable lamp with wind screen) which another woman is trimming.
62 Geisha and a young girl standing on the bank near the rapids of the Tamagawa.
63 Young woman seated in a window, conversing with another young woman seated on the floor and holding a picture-book.
64 Young man removing snow from the geta of a young woman.
65 Woman lying upon the floor of a room, reading a book, and another woman standing beside her, holding a pipe.
66 Young woman seated on a veranda after her bath, having her back massaged by her maid.
67 Young man talking to a girl through the bars of a window.
68 A burlesque apparition of Fugen. Instead of the Buddhist divinity, a young woman seated on an elephant appears on a cloud before a priest kneeling in prayer.
69 Lovers walking in the snow under an umbrella. One of Harunobu's most distinguished prints.

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70 The Sleeping Elder Sister. First state. Early impression signed by the printer, Kyosen.

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71 The Sleeping Elder Sister. Second state. Changes made in the blocks and colouring.

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72 The Sleeping Elder Sister. Still later impression. Colouring changed again, and the number of blocks increased from ten to thirteen.

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73 The Hole in the Wall.
74 Mother holding her infant son.
75 At the entrance gate.
76 Mother taking her infant son from another woman and handing her a letter.
77 Lovers in a palace.

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78 Musume walking up a flight of steps leading to a temple.
79 Lovers playing battledore and shuttlecock; the young man climbing a ladder to disengage the shuttlecock caught upon the branch of a mume tree.
80 Hashira-yé. Woman in night attire standing by her bedside reading a letter.

SHIBA KOKAN

An artist who is best known as a clever imitator of his master, Harunobu, whose signature he forged upon a number of prints. He also used the “go̅,” or studio name, Harushige in signing prints in the Harunobu manner. In later years he painted pictures in semi-European style, and made copper-plate engravings which were coloured by hand. He was born in 1747 and died in 1818.

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81 The courtyard of a house in the Yoshiwara. A woman reading a letter and a girl attendant standing beside her holding a tray. Signed Harunobu.

SHOSHOKEN

This is the pseudonym of an artist of distinction whose identity has not been determined. His known works are calendar prints for 1765.

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82 Stout lady crossing a room in a palace supported by two attendants. The use of gold leaf is notable.
[pg 40]

KITAO SHIGEMASA

One of the noted artists of the school. Was famous for his skill as a calligrapher, being reputed to have no superior in his day in either of the “three capitals,” Yedo, Kyoto, or Osaka. His prints, which are rare, are generally of much distinction. He was born in 1740, and died in the second month of Bunsei 3 (February or March, 1820).

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83 Children's puppet show.

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84 Beni-yé. Segawa Kikunojo̅ and Ichimura Uzaemon as Izumo no Okuni and Nagoya Sanza, two komuso, playing upon shaku-hachi.

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85 Two geishas.

ISODA KORYUSAI

The most important pupil of Harunobu, whose style he followed closely in his early works. Later he developed a manner of his own. As a designer of pillar prints and of prints of birds, he was especially successful. He was a samurai and associated with samurai of the superior class. The director of the mint was one of his most intimate friends and patrons. About 1781 he gave up print-designing, devoted himself to painting, and was given the honorary title of Hokyo. The dates of his birth and death are not known.

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86 Hashira-yé. Musume leaping from the balcony of Kiyomidzu temple with an umbrella as a parachute.
87 Woman standing on the engawa of a house, admiring snow-laden bamboo branches; back of her, a girl and a young boy looking through a window.
88 A Yoshiwara beauty arranging flowers; two girl attendants looking on.

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89 Hashira-yé. Musume carrying her infant brother.
90 Hashira-yé. Young woman poling a boat in a lily-pond.

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91 A Yoshiwara beauty on parade, attended by a girl and a boy.
92 Hashira-yé. The bijin Juro̅jin. A young woman is represented in place of the long-life being whose attributes are a crane and a tortoise.

KATSUKAWA SHUNSHO

A contemporary of Harunobu and one of the greatest of the Ukiyoé artists. He was highly renowned in his day and had many pupils who became famous. Most of his prints were portraits of actors in character. He was born in 1726 and died on January 22, 1793.

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93 Segawa Kikunojo as a woman holding a red fan.
94 Two actors in character. The seated figure is Danju̅ro̅, the leading “star” of the Yedo stage.

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95 Actor in a female rôle.

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96 Iwai Hanshiro̅ as a woman standing and holding a fan behind her.
97 Yamashita Kinsaku in a female rôle.
98 Actor of the Ichikawa line in the rôle of Shibaraku at the Ichimura theatre.
99 O̅tani Hiroji as an Amazake vendor.
100 Hashira-yé. Nobleman carrying a court lady on his back. Probably a parody upon the suicide of Ohan and Choyaemon.
101 Wide hashira-yé. The Woman in Red.