About This Print

Likely a proof print for the editioned version of the print which is one of five prints in the folio titled Oka Shikanosuke Woodblock Print Collection, First Series [岡鹿之助第一輯版画集 Oka Shikanosuke daiichshū hanga gashū], issued in an edition of 150 in 1970 by the publisher Katō Hanga Kenkyūsho (Katō Print Institute). In comparing this print with the print pictured on the publisher's web page¹, the only clear difference is the placement of Oka's signature, which on this print is in the lower left corner of the image, as it is in the original painting (see below), and on the Katō editioned print is in the lower right corner. Otherwise, the images appear identical.  As was used for the prints in the editioned folio, this print was made on paper created by Ichibee Iwano, a papermaker declared a Living National Treasure.

From the notes in Japanese on the publisher's website, I believe Oka worked with the publisher on both this folio and the second folio issued in 1973.

For details on the contents of these two folios see the section titled "The Artist's Prints" under the artist's biography Oka Shikanosuke (1898-1978).