Boy Reading, Bushclover and Grass, Lake Hakone, Bonsai and First Bonita of the Season from the series Ryūsai manga

 

Japanese Color Woodblock Print

Boy Reading, Bushclover and Grass, Lake Hakone,

Bonsai and First Bonita of the Season

from the series Ryūsai manga

by Utagawa Hiroshige III, 1879

Suruga-chō, Evening scene of Mitsui Bank with Mt Fuji from the series Famous Places of Tokyo: Past and Present

IHL Cat. #1582

About This Print


The artist Utagawa Hiroshige III, a disciple of the great Utagawa Hiroshige I (1797-1858), created these sketches (manga), which were arranged three, four or five to a single sheet as a harimaze-e, in 1879.  Titled "Sketches by Ryūsai", Ryūsai being an artist name (gō) of Hiroshige III, they were very much in the tradition of his master Hiroshige I, who is sometimes credited as the inventor of the print genre harimaze, which can be literally translated as "paste and mix pictures" and is commonly translated as "cut-out pictures."

The height of their popularity was in the mid-1800s and these inexpensive prints were purchased and then often cut-apart and pasted onto Japanese screens or into scrapbooks.  Harimazi-e could include the work of multiple artists or just a single artist, as in  the case of these harimaze-e.  For other examples of harimazi-e in this collection see Kawanabe Kyōsai (1831-1889) and his works from the series Kyōsai Manga.

In the above print the left bottom panel pictures Lake Hakone with Mount Fuji in the background.  Note the similarities and differences with Hiroshige I's 1852 print Lake in the Mountains of Hakone from the series Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji.

 
Hiroshige III's Lake Hakone, 1879		 

Hiroshige I's Lake in the Mountains of Hakone, 1852


Print Details

 IHL Catalog
 #1582
 Title or Description top right: boy reading
 top left: Bush Clover and Grass 萩艸 (first character needs confirmation)
 bottom left: Lake Hakone 箱根湖水
 bottom right: bonsai
 center right: First Bonito of the Season 初松𩵋 (character transcription needs confirmation)
 Series Sketches by Ryūsai 
 Ryūsai manga 立斎漫画
 Artist Utagawa Hiroshige III (1842–1894)
 Signature
画工：安藤徳兵エ [as printed in left margin]
artist name: Andō Tokubei [Hiroshige III's family name]
 Seal
"Hiro" diamond seal [this seal was also used by Hiroshige I]
 Publication Date
明治12年4月28日御届
April 28, 1879
 Publisher
Mizuno Keijirō 水野慶治郎 (Fujiokaya Keijirō) [Marks: pub. ref. 063; seal not shown]
 Carver
 Impression excellent
 Colors excellent
 Condition excellent
 Genre ukiyo-e; harimaze-e
 Miscellaneous   
 Format oban
 H x W Paper 
 14 1/4 x 9 1/2 in. (36.2 x 24.1 cm)
 H x W Image
 13 x 8 3/4 in. (33 x 22.2 cm)
 Literature 

 Collections This Print

last revision:
3/28/2020