Making Dried Bonito Flakes in Tosa Province from the series Dai Nippon Bussan Zue (Products of Greater Japan)

 

Japanese Color Woodblock Print

Making Dried Bonito Flakes in Tosa Province

from the series Dai Nippon Bussan Zue

(Products of Greater Japan)

by Utagawa Hiroshige III, 1877

Fishing for Flatfish in Wakasa Province from the series Dai Nippon Bussan Zue (Products of Greater Japan)

IHL Cat. #1509

About This Print


One of 118 prints in the series Dai Nippon Bussan Zue (Products of Greater Japan)issued in August 1877 to coincide with the opening of Japan’s first National Industrial Exposition (Naikoku Kangyō Hakurankai) held in Tokyo’s Ueno Park. In this print, katsuobushi (dried bonito flakes, a staple of Japanese cookery) are being processed. Tosa Province (土佐国 Tosa no kuni) is a former province of Japan in the area that is today Kōchi Prefecture on Shikoku. Tosa was bordered by Iyo and Awa Provinces. It was sometimes called Doshū (土州).1 "The waters of the bay [Tosa Bay] made possible a flourishing fishing industry, and dried bonito (katsuobushi) from Tosa found its way from the fishing villages, via the proper guild channels, to the markets of Osaka and Edo."2

Multiple Editions (Variant Printings)

At least three variant printings (editions) were made of this series.  Each variant printing uses a different colored cartouche containing the series' title, either red, green or rainbow-colored.  Different colored borders were also used and variances in the use of colors and shading are present in the three editions.

Transcription of Scroll

Source: with thanks to Yajifun http://yajifun.tumblr.com/

“同(土佐國)鰹節を製ス圖 松魚多く集る時ハ雌牛の角鯨の牙等にて餌?なくして釣る是をかけると云なり つりたる魚を渚の砂上にほうり上ゲ先ヅ頭を断り膓をぬき骨を除き二枚におろしたるを又二ツに切て四片となし籠にならべて幾重もかさね大釜の沸湯にむして簀の子にならべ三十日ほどほしてふたたびみがきて?につめ諸方へ?出すなり”


1 Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tosa_Province
2 Sakamato Ryoma and the Meiji Restoration, Marius B. Jansen, Princeton University Press, 1961, p. 23.

Print Details

 IHL Catalog
 #1509
 Title or Description Making Dried Bonito Flakes in Tosa Province
 同[土佐国]鰹節を製ス図 Dō katsuobushi o seisu zu
 Series
 Dai Nippon Bussan Zue 大日本物産図会 (Products of Greater Japan)
 Artist Utagawa Hiroshige III (1842–1894)
 Signature
Andō Tokubei - artist's family name appearing in the bottom of the cartouche in the left margin

Full cartouche reads 画工 大鋸町四番地 安藤徳兵エ [gakō Ōga machi yon banchi Andō Tokubei]
 Seal none
 Publication Date 1877 (Meiji 10) 
 Publisher
Ōkura Magobei 大倉孫兵衛 (Kin'eido; 1843-1921) [Marks: pub. ref. 627]
appearing in right margin (trimmed on this print)
Full cartouche reads 出版人 日本橋通一丁目十九番地   大倉孫兵衛 (Publisher, Nihobashi-dōri Itchōme 19-banchi, Ōkura Magobei)
 Impression excellent
 Colors excellent
 Condition good - vertical centerfold reinforced by tape on verso
 Genre nishiki-e; kaika-e
 Miscellaneous  
 Format chuban
 H x W Paper 
 6 3/4 x 9 3/8 in. (17.1 x 23.8 cm)
 H x W Image
 6 3/8 x 9 1/8 in.  (16.2 x 23.2 cm)
 Literature 

 Collections This Print
 Waseda University Library Archives 01_04265_0001