About This Print
This print is likely a post-WWII issue by Uchida Woodblock Printing Company. It was originally issued by Uchida in the late 1930s1 as part of the series Fifteen Views of Kyoto.Fireflies at Uji
Source: Lafcadio Hearn: Japan's Great Interpreter: A New Anthology of His Writings 1894-1904, Louis Allen, Jean Wilson, Japan Library Ltd., 1992, p. 189-190.Two species of firefly have a wide distribution in Japan; and these have been popularly named Genji-hotaru and Heike-hotaru: that is to say, ‘the Minamoto-Firefly’ and “the Taira-Firefly’. A legend avers that these fireflies are the ghosts of the old Minamoto and Taira warriors; that, even in their insect shapes, they remember the awful clan-struggle of the twelfth century; and that once every year, on the night of the twentieth day of the fourth month, they fight a great battle on the Uji River. Therefore, on that night all caged fireflies should be set free, in order that they may be able to take part in the contest.
At present the most famous place for fireflies is in the neighbourhood of Uji, in Yamashiro…. But it is on the river, at a point several miles from the town, that the great spectacle is to be witnessed – the Hotaru-Kassen, or Firefly Battle.
Fireflies on the Uji River at night
Print Details
| IHL Catalog | #381 |
| Title | The Fireflies of Uji River (English title in the table of contents for the series folder) |
| Series | Fifteen Views of Kyoto |
| Artist | Tokuriki Tomikichirō (1902-2000) |
| Signature | Tomikichirō |
| Seal | not sealed |
| Date | c. post WWII |
| Edition | likley a later post WWII edition |
| Publisher | Uchida Bijutsu Shoten (U Chi Da Han seal)1 |
| Impression | excellent |
| Colors | excellent |
| Condition | excellent - two minor spots of residue from previous folio mounting |
| Genre | shin hanga (new print) |
| Miscellaneous | |
| Format | shikishiban |
| H x W Paper | 11 1/8 x 9 7/8 in. (28.3 x 25.1 cm) |
| H x W Image | 10 3/4 x 9 3/4 in. (27.3 x 24.8 cm) |
| Collections This Print | |
| Reference Literature | |
1 see http://shotei.com/seals/seal_details.php?seal=1162 for information on this publisher's seal often misidentified as the artist's seal
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