About This Print
This installation features more than 30 loans from two remarkably rich local resources, the Lavenberg Collection of Japanese Prints, and the Lee & Mary Jean Michels Collection. It was co-curated by Professors Akiko Walley (History of Art and Architecture) and Glynne Walley (East Asian Languages and Literatures) and JSMA Chief Curator Anne Rose Kitagawa. QR codes on selected labels allow visitors to access translations and explanations of the complex wordplay, imagery, and cultural context of these fascinating objects.
HASEGAWA Sadanobu II/Konobu I (二代 長谷川貞信/初代小信, 1848-1940)
Japanese; Meiji period, 1875
A Dutiful Geisha, No. 2 of Authorized Brocade Picture News of Everything (Kankyo Nishiki-e Hyakuji Shinbun)
Ukiyo-e woodblock print in horizontal chūban format; ink and color on paper
The Lavenberg Collection of Japanese Prints, IHL.2301
This installation features more than 30 loans from two remarkably rich local resources, the Lavenberg Collection of Japanese Prints, and the Lee & Mary Jean Michels Collection. It was co-curated by Professors Akiko Walley (History of Art and Architecture) and Glynne Walley (East Asian Languages and Literatures) and JSMA Chief Curator Anne Rose Kitagawa. QR codes on selected labels allow visitors to access translations and explanations of the complex wordplay, imagery, and cultural context of these fascinating objects.
HASEGAWA Sadanobu II/Konobu I (二代 長谷川貞信/初代小信, 1848-1940)
Japanese; Meiji period, 1875
A Dutiful Geisha, No. 2 of Authorized Brocade Picture News of Everything (Kankyo Nishiki-e Hyakuji Shinbun)
Ukiyo-e woodblock print in horizontal chūban format; ink and color on paper
The Lavenberg Collection of Japanese Prints, IHL.2301
Translation of text on print:
In Osaka-fu Dai-2-ku 14-shōku Nanba Shinchi 2-banchō, a geisha known as Kura worked in an an establishment popularly known as Sada. Although she had immersed herself in its muddy water her heart and soul were pure with the spirit of filial piety, for she served her mother faithfully. For nine years she toiled in suffering, for ten she endured a world of hurt, and more. Even her customers, as they summoned her in her flowery robes, tugged her sleeves in admiration. Her reputation soared for both beauty and substance as this geisha strove to make her name synonymous with the utmost in filiality.
(Glynne Walley, Associate Professor of East Asian Languages & Literatures)
Print Details
| IHL Catalog | #2301 |
| Title or Description | A Dutiful Geisha 孝行な芸妓くら kōkō na geiji kura |
| Newspaper | Officially Authorized Brocade Picture News onEverything, No. 2 Kankyo nishikie hyakuji shinbun 官許 錦画百事新聞 第弐号 (as written in banner along top of print) |
| Artist | Hasegawa Sadanobu II (1848-1940) |
| Signature |  長谷川貞信画 note: signature is within publisher's cartouche |
| Seal | not sealed |
| Writer of Text | 知足館 松旭 Chisokukan Shōkyoku (active 19th century) |
| Publication Date | 1875 |
| Publisher |   green cartouche (lower left margin): left column: 前田武八郎 Maeda Takehachirō (also read Buhachirō) [Marks: pub. ref. 288; seal ref. similar to 25-387] right column: 大坂心才橋塩町 (publisher's address in Osaka) blue cartouche (lower left image): right column: 編輯人 友鳴吉兵衛 Editor: Tomonari Kichibei* (Kichibee) center column: 長谷川貞信画 Picture by [ga]: Sadanobu left column: 印刷人 前田喜次郞 Printer: Maeda Kijirō * multiple sources list Kanai Tokubei as the editor, which is true for many of the prints in this series, but not for this particular print. |
| Carver | not provided on print |
| Printer | |
| Impression | excellent |
| Colors | excellent |
| Condition | good - not backed; full margins; minor marks; several small worm holes |
| Genre | ukiyo-e; nishiki-e shinbun 錦絵新聞 |
| Miscellaneous | |
| Format | horizontal chuban |
| H x W Paper | 9 1/2 x 6 13/16 in. (241 x 17 cm) (approximate - not measured) |
| H x W Image | |
| Literature | |
| Collections This Print | University of Tokyo Meiji Sinbun Zasshi Bunko ID 13142; Ritsumeikan Art Research Center Ukiyo-e Portal Database AcNo. MSZB07-04-142_00001; Waseda University Library Call No. 文庫10 07354 |
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