The four print set for  Natsumatsuri Naniwa Kagami (Volume ?: published 1926 or 1927)

puppets from left to right (as positioned on the stage set print's tissue overlay):

Tsurifun no Sabu 釣船の三婦, Issun Tokubei 一寸徳兵衛, Danshichi Kurobei 団七九郎兵衛 

The four print set for Shinjū Ten no Amijima (Volume ?: publisher 1926 or 1927)

puppets from left to right (as positioned on the stage set print's tissue overlay):

Kamiya Jihei 紙屋治兵衛, Koya Magoemon粉屋孫右衛門, Kinokuniya Koharu 紀の国屋小春

The four print set for Shinpan Utazaimon (Volume ?: 1926 or 1927)

puppets from left to right  (as positioned on the stage set print's tissue overlay):

Osome お染, Hisamatsu and Kyūsaku 久松久作 , Omitsu お光

About the "Illustrated Collection of Famous Japanese Puppets

of the Osaka Bunrakuza"

Note: For background on the Bunraku puppet theater please see the list of reference materials at the bottom of this page.

This collection of forty-eight color woodblock prints was designed by Hasegawa Sadanobu III (Konobu III) (1881-1963), an Osaka-based artist with a deep interest in Japanese traditional theater, and issued over the period March 1926 (Taishō 15) to August 1927 (Shōwa 2)¹ by the publishing houses Bijutsusha 美術社 in Tokyo and, on a subscription (members only) basis, by Hangakai hanmoto 版画会板元 (板畫會板元) in Kyoto. The cost per print set was 3 yen by subscription and 3 yen 50 sen for a single print set. The editor and publisher for both the Bijutsusha and Hangakai hanmoto sets was Hayashi Eikichi 林榮吉, who was also the editor for Hasegawa's Collection of One Hundred Kumadori Makeups in Kabuki. (See Hasegawa Sadanobu III (Konobu III) (1881-1963) for prints from this collection.)

The Illustrated Collection of Famous Japanese Puppets of the Osaka Bunrakuza consists of twelve sets of prints each set depicting a specific play in the bunraku repertory, as listed in the below table. Each set contains a stage set for the specific play along with three prints of puppet characters appearing in the play and an explanatory sheet, for a total of forty-eight color woodblock prints and twelve monochrome explanatory sheets. Each of the stage set prints was originally issued with a tissue overlay showing the position of the three puppet characters on the stage. All of the plays pictured were performed at the Bunraku Theater (Bunraku-za) located within the Goryō Shrine compound in Osaka. The Goryō Bunraku-za burned down in November 1926 after what has been described as "an extremely difficult managerial era" and "lost interest" by the public in the late Taishō era.² It is unknown what role, if any, the management of the Goryō Bunraku-za may have played in the formulation and issuance of this print series in their efforts to revitalize the theater.

The prints as originally issued made use of deluxe printing techniques including embossing on many of the puppet robes and faces, use of woodgrain backgrounds, bokashi shading and black lacquer to highlight the wigs.

click on image to enlarge Detail of embossing, Tamaori Hime in Ichi-no-tani Futaba Gunki, 1926

click on image to enlarge Detail of embossing, Issun Tokubei in  Natsumatsuri Naniwa Kagami, 1926 or 1927

click on image to enlarge Detail of printing on fan to create 3D effect, Sasaki Takatsuma in Kamakura Sandaiki Natsumatsuri Naniwa Kagami, 1927

click on image to enlarge Detail of woodgrain texture and bokashi in background, Hyakushō Yoichibei in Kanadehon Chūshingura, Act 5, 1926

¹ Dates are taken from the colophons on the envelopes containing the print sets in the Waseda University Archives

² National Diet Library website page http://www.ndl.go.jp/scenery/e/column/kansai/goryo_bunrakuza.html which provides a history of the Goryo Bunrakuza.

Reissued by Uchida Publishing

At a later date, likely after WWII, the publisher Uchida acquired the woodblocks for these prints and reissued many, if not all, of the prints. The Uchida puppet prints bear their octagonal Uchida hanmoto seal 版元 うちだ, as can be seen in the lower right corner of the below print on the right, and their prints typically have larger margins. The color palette was also altered on many of the Uchida reissued prints, although in the below first edition print on the left, the original orange ink has oxidized to a rich brown. I believe the stage set prints, although they do not carry Uchida's seal, were also reissued by Uchida but without the tissue paper overlays and added margins as can be seen in IHL Cat. #1658 Stage Set for Kamakura Sandaiki.

click on image to enlarge

 Sasaki Takatsuna in  Kamakura Sandaiki 

left: as originally issued in 1927 by Bijutsusha and Hangakai hanmoto

right: as reissued by Uchida Publishing, likely post-war.

Note the small modification to the hair on the puppets head in the Uchida print.

click on image to enlarge

Stage Set for Kamakura Sandaiki

left: as originally issued in 1927 by Bijutsusha and Hangakai hanmoto

right: as reissued by Uchida Publishing, likely post-war.

The Twelve Plays Portrayed

Play Name in Japanese	Play Name in English
壇浦兜軍記  Dan-no-ura kabuto gunki	Chronicle of the Battle of Dan-no-ura
義経千本桜  Yoshitsune senbon zakura	Yoshitsune and the Thousand Cherry Trees
一の谷嫩軍記    Ichi-no-tani futaba gunki	Chronicle of the Battle of Ichinotani
仮名手本忠臣蔵、五段目  Kanadehon Chūshingura, go danme	The Treasury of Loyal Retainers, Act 5
仮名手本忠臣蔵、七段目  Kanadehon Chūshingura, shichi danme	The Treasury of Loyal Retainers, Act 7
伊賀越道中双六  Igagoe dōchū sugoroku	The Revenge at Igagoe
心中天網嶋  Shinjū ten no amajima	The Love Suicides at Amijima
新版歌祭文  Shinpan Utazaimon	The New Scandalous Ballad of Osome and Hisamatsu
菅原伝授手習鑑   Sugawara Denju Tenarai Kagami	Sugawara and the Secrets of  Calligraphy
本朝廿四孝  Honchō nijūshikō	Twenty-four Examples of Filial Piety
鎌倉三代記  Kamakura sandaiki	Three Generations of Kamakura Shoguns
夏祭浪花鑑   Natsumatsuri Naniwa kagami	Summer festival at Naniwa (Osaka)

Decorative envelopes exist for each set of four prints and the explanatory sheet as does a decorative portfolio or outer box containing the entire set of plays.

Envelope Volume 2

「長谷川小信筆 日本名物大阪文楽座人形画集 第二段」

click on image to enlarge

The collection's title 日本名物大阪文楽座人形画集 (Ōsaka Bunraku-za Ningyō Gashū: Nihon Meibutsu) has been variously translated as Illustrated Collection of the Famous Japanese Puppets of the Osaka Bunrakuza; Book of Noted Puppets of the Bunrakuza Osaka and Famous Products of Japan: Osaka Bunraku Theatre Dolls, Book of Prints.

Colophons for the Tokyo-based Bijutsha set and for the

Kyoto-based Hangakai hanmoto supscription set

colophon accompanying the first set of prints published by Bijutsusha 美術社 in Tokyo 大正十五年三月十五日摺刷 printed: March 15, 1926 大正十五年三月二十日發行 issued/published: March 20, 1926 定価参圓五拾銭30銭せ list price: 3 yen, 50 sen   編輯兼 發行者 林榮吉 editing and publishing Hayashi Eikichi 筆者  長谷川小信  artist: Hasegawa Sadanobu 彫師 佐藤重一 carver: Jūichi Satō 摺師 板垣八重松 woodblock printer: Itagaki Yaematsu 發行所  美術社 publishing house: Bijutsusha Source: National Diet Library

colophon accompanying the 4th set of prints published by Hangakai hanmoto 板画會板元 in Kyoto and sold to "members only" 大正十五年六月十五日摺刷 printed: June 15, 1926 大正十五年六月二十日發行 issued/published: June 20, 1926  會費参圓也 會員限ニ限リ membership fee: 3 yen  limited to members only 編輯兼 發行者 林榮吉 editing and publishing Hayashi Eikichi 筆者  長谷川小信  artist: Hasegawa Sadanobu 彫師 佐藤重一 carver: Jūichi Satō 摺師 板垣八重松 woodblock printer: Itagaki Yaematsu 發行所  板画會板元 publishing house: Hangakai hanmoto Source: Waseda University Cultural Resource Database 201-1562

Reference Materials 

Bunraku: The Art of the Japanese Puppet Theatre, Donald Keene and Hiroshi Kaneko, Kodansha International, Ltd., 1965

Web Japan, Ministry of Foreign Affairs website: Japan Fact Sheet Bunraku https://web-japan.org/factsheet/en/pdf/32Bunraku.pdf

Columbia University Libraries: The Barbara Curtis Adachi Bunraku Collection

National Theatre of Japan Japan Arts Council: Invitation to Bunraku

Nippon.com: The Rich History and Uncertain Future of Bunraku Puppet Theater

"A Note on Bunraku" by Susan Sontag, appearing in The Threepenny Review, No. 16 (Winter, 1984) p. 16.

Stage set for the play Imoseyama Onna Teikin

image source: Web Japan, Ministry of Foreign Affairs website: Japan Fact Sheet Bunraku https://web-japan.org/factsheet/en/pdf/32Bunraku.pdf

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last revision:
5/16/2021 created