Nishiki-e Shinbun, Yomiuri Shinbun No. 9, Illustrations No. 24 and No. 25

Morikawa Chikashige (active 1869 - January 1882)

Japanese Color Woodblock Print 

Nishiki-e Shinbun, Yomiuri Shinbun No. 9,

Illustrations No. 24 〇五日士人...  and No. 25 芝中門前... 

by Morikawa Chikashige, 1875

Morikawa Chikashige (active 1869 - January 1882)

IHL Cat. #1904

About This Print

A diptych with two unread, but I'm sure lurid, stories from the largest of the Japanese dailies, the Yomiuri Shinbun, founded in 1874, a year before this print was published.  in 1875, the daily circulation of the Yomiuri was 14,509 copies.1

A transcription of the story on the left panel is provided below, but I cannot locate a copy of the right sheet in any of the online databases for nishiki-e shinbun.

For a summary of the brief life of nishiki-e shinbun (newspaper color woodblock prints) see the article Nishiki-e shinbun and Newspapers in Meiji Japan.

1 Creating a Public: People and Press in Meiji Japan, James. L. Huffman, University of Hawaii Press, 1997, p. 386.

Japanese Transcription of Text Appearing in Left Panel

Source: University of Tokyo website http://www.lib.iii.u-tokyo.ac.jp/collection/ono_sn/17.html#N015

芝中門前中島藤五郎の娘おわかハ

人にすぐれてよききりやう

なるがすきやばし内の

あるかぞくへほうこうに

ゆき

二三

にち

たつ

ここの

きん

だちが

おわかの

ねまへ

しのびきて

まろのいふ

ことをきけば何なりと

かふてやるといへどなかなか

きかぬゆへ主人のことばを

そむくふとどきやつわがこころに

したがハねバしようがあると

いわれて

おわかハかけ

いだしやどへ引

とりうたれた

所のつよく

いためば此

ことすぐに

うつたえて

おさばきをまちける

Print Details

 IHL Catalog
 #1904
 Title or Description Yomiuri Shinbun No. 9 (第9号), Illustrations No. 24 〇五日士人...  and No. 25 芝中門前... 
 Newspaper Yomiuri Shinbun
 読売新聞 
 Artist Morikawa Chikashige (active 1869 - January 1882)
 Signature
周重筆 Chikashige hitsu
 Seal Toshidama seal beneath signature (see below)
 Writer of Text
 unknown
 Publication Date
明治8年(1875)8月
 Publisher
Kiya Sōjirō 木屋宗次郎 (木屋惣次郎) [Marks: pub. ref. 252]
seal reading: bakuro yon kisō han 馬喰四木宗板 [not shown in Marks]

 Carver
 Impression good
 Colors excellent
 Condition good - full-size untrimmed sheet; vertical fold length of paper; handling creases; pinhole bottom left border; minor soiling
 Genre ukiyo-enishiki-e shinbun
 Miscellaneous 
 Format
 H x W Paper 
 7 1/16 x 9 5/8 in. (17.9 x 24.4 cm)
 H x W Image 6 3/4 x 9 1/16 in. (17.1 x 23 cm)
 Literature 
 
 Collections This Print
 The University of Tokyo Interfaculty Initiative in Information Studies Library Ono Collection (left sheet of diptych only) http://www.lib.iii.u-tokyo.ac.jp/collection/ono_sn/17.html#N015; Art Research Center (ARC) Ritsumeikan University AcNo. MSZB07-09-452_00002(13452)