About This Print
This print is one of twenty-nine colored woodblock prints designed by Mizushima for the sketch-tour book (travel journal) Fifty-Three Stations of the Tōkaidō [supplement] Seto Inland Sea issued in March 1920 by the publishing house Kanao Bun'endō. It depicts the Night Crying Stone (yonaki ishi) near Nissaka, the 25th station along the Tōkaidō. According to legend, "Long ago, a pregnant woman was attacked on Sayo-no-Nakayama Pass, where she was robbed and killed. A stone nearby began to cry loudly. Someone heard it, found the dead mother, delivered the baby, and ensured that it would grow up safely. Most versions of the story add that the child grew up to avenge his mother's murder.1 You'll need to look closely at the above print to see the stone, but it's that small round object center right near the hut.
This is supposed to be the actual stone, at Kyuenji Temple (though there's another candidate in the area)
source, caption and image: website of James Baquet "The Temple Guy"
The Sketch-Tour Book:
Fifty-Three Stations of the Tōkaidō [supplement] Inland Sea
Issued in March 1920 by the publisher Kanao Tanejirō, this work has been called the last book of the sketch-tour genre. [For more information on this genre see the section "Sketch-Tour Genre" under the biography of Nakazawa Hiromitsu (1874-1964).] Written and illustrated by Mizushima Nihofu the book contains twenty-nine color woodblock prints and forty-nine monochrome woodblock prints. In his article "Sketch-tour Books and Print of the Early Books Twentieth Century" Scott Johnson writes:
Nihou's [Nihofu's] travel journal text is further embellished with cartoons and lighthearted dialogue. Nihou was capable of creating powerful compositions on the post-card sized pages of this book. Perhaps because cartooning trained him to make the most of small areas, some of Nihou's woodcuts and line illustrations create muscular, nearly monumental effects by modest means. As a phenomenon of graphic art in book form, the sketch-tour book finished with Nihou's 1920 Tōkaidō gojus̄an-tsugi Fu Setonaikai fifteen years after Hiromitsu [Nakazawa Hiromitsu (1874-1964)] had started it with his pioneering Gojūsantsugi Suketchi.1
cover
click on image to enlarge
image source: Princeton University Library
1 website of James Baquet "The Temple Guy"
2 "Sketch-tour Books and Print of the Early Books Twentieth Century", appearing in Andon 37 , June 1991,
Print Details
| IHL Catalog | #2354 |
| Title | Nissaka, Night Crying Stone 日坂 (夜泣石) [title as it appears on the right of the bottom margin] |
| Book | Fifty-Three Stations of the Tōkaidō [supplement] Seto Inland Sea [traveler's journal] Tōkaidō gojus̄an-tsugi Setonaikai [kikō] 東海道五十三次 瀬戸内海 [紀行] |
| Artist | Mizushima Nihofu (Nihou) (1884-1958) |
| Signature | not signed on print colophon - author: Mizushima Nihofu 著作者水島爾保布 |
| Seal of the artist | no seal |
| Date | March 15, 1920 |
| Edition | first and only edition |
| Publisher | 發行者 金尾種次郎 publisher Kanao Tanejirō 發兌元 金尾文淵堂 publishing house Kanao Bun'endō |
| Printer | Nishimura Kumakichi 西村熊吉 |
| Carver | unknown but possibly Ōkura Hambei 大倉半兵衛 |
| Impression | excellent |
| Colors | excellent |
| Condition | good - overall light toning; soiling in margins |
| Genre | shasei kikō (sketch-tour); zuroku 図録 (illustrated book) |
| Miscellaneous | |
| Format | |
| H x W Paper | 7 5/16 x 4 7/16 in. (18.6 x 11.3 cm) |
| H x W Image | 4 x 3 3/16 in. (10.2 x 8.1 cm) |
| Collections This Print | Collections holding the entire book: University of Southern California Library DS894.59.T632 M59 1920; Princeton University Library DS894.59.T632 M59 1920 [entire book is online]; Smithsonian Freer/Sackler Galleries FSC-GR-780.419.1-2 |
| Reference Literature |
8/10/2020 created
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