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. It depicts laborers moving vats of sake in preparation for loading onto boats in Osaka Bay. The Cambridge History of Japan notes in discussing the governments 1874 survey of physical production in Japan that "The value of sake produced was astonishingly large, more than the value of all silk and cotton textiles and three times value of raw silk output."1
Settsu Province (摂津国 Settsu no kuni) was a province of Japan, which today comprises the southeastern part of Hyōgo Prefecture and the northern part of Osaka Prefecture. It was also referred to as Tsu Province (津国 Tsu no kuni) or Sesshū (摂州). Osaka and Osaka Castle were the main center of the province. Most of Settsu's area comprises the modern day cities of Osaka and Kōbe.2
This crêped version of the print was made by the chirimen process, resulting in a cloth-like, smaller dimensioned, irregularly shaped print. (See the explanation in the Glossary under chirimen-e ("crêped" print)).Sake - Born in Itami
Source: website of Hyogo Prefectural Hanshin North Area Tourism Promotion Council http://hankita-tourism.jp/en/area/itami/course/
Around the year 1600, Shinroku Yamanaka, a wealthy merchant in Osaka and the earliest ancestor of the Konoike Family, succeeded in brewing clear sake called "Morohakusumi-zake," which was different from conventional nigori-zake (unfiltered cloudy sake). This is said to be the start of seishu (refined sake).
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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. A crêped version of the series was also produced.
1 The Cambridge History of Japan, Volume 5 The Nineteenth Century, ed. John W. Hall, Marius B. Jansen, et. al., Cambridge University Press, 1989
2 Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Settsu_Province
Print Details
latest revision:
| IHL Catalog | #1945 |
| Title or Description | Shipping New Brew Sake in Settsu Province 同[摂津国]新酒荷出之図 |
| Series | Dai Nippon Bussan Zue 大日本物産図会 (Products of Greater Japan) |
| Artist | Utagawa Hiroshige III (1842–1894) |
| Signature |  |
| Seal | none |
| Publication Date | 1877 (Meiji 10) |
| Publisher | Publishing information trimmed from the margin of this print. Ōkura Magobei 大倉孫兵衛 (Kin'eido; 1843-1921) [Marks: pub. ref. 627] |
| Impression | excellent |
| Colors | excellent |
| Condition | good - margins trimmed almost to image, normal misshapen size due to chirimen process |
| Genre | nishiki-e; kaika-e |
| Miscellaneous | |
| Format | chuban |
| H x W Paper | 5 1/2 x 7 9/16 in. (14 x 19.2 cm) |
| H x W Image | 4 15/16 x 7 3/16 in. ( 12.5 x 18.3 cm) |
| Literature | |
| Collections This Print | |
10/27/2018
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