About This Print

This undated and untitled print, likely issued post-WWII, is after a small woodblock print which originally appeared in Takehisa Yumeji's 1915 book of poetry titled Samisen-kusa (Shamisen Leaves), published by the Tokyo publisher Shinchōsha.  The original print appeared as the last of six small woodblock prints bound into the book.  The publisher of this collection's  print is unknown.  The title commonly assigned to this print is, not surprisingly, Fireworks (花火).

This immensely popular book typified the melancholy view of fragilely beautiful women which was Yumeji's special contribution to the culture of the Taisho era (1912-26) and which helped establish the atmosphere of the period. The six individual small-scale woodblock prints bound into the volume are not major pieces, but the cumulative effect of the book, which also includes many illustrations in line process, collotype and halftone, is significant. All are of young geishas and other professional female players of the samisen, a three-stringed instrument plucked by ivory plectra, which had been the most used instrument in popular entertainment since its introduction from the Ryukyu Islands in the seventeenth century. All the illustrations are after Yumeji's paintings or sketches, and the selection of poems was also made by him. These are ko-uta, short romantic songs sung to a samisen accompaniment. Yumeji writes in the preface 'This volume is dedicated to the young women of the land where the samisen blooms with cherry blossom'. The volume was published by Satō Yoshikatsu at Shinchōsha, Tokyo.