About This Print
Sources: website of The Fitzwilliam Musem http://www.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/gallery/japan/gallery/textA.htm and the website of the National Diet Library http://www.ndl.go.jp/landmarks/e/sights/saruwakacho/
The top print (IHL Cat. #1283) provides a past, or old (古), view of Edo's theater district, giving us a view of the rooftops and banners announcing performances along Saruwaka Street from one of the tea houses on the street. Saruwaka was established in 1841 as a result of fires destroying the Sakai Street theater district. Named after Saruwaka Kanzaburō, founder of Edo-style kabuki in the Nakamura Theater in 1624, the street housed the three main licensed kabuki theaters, the Nakamura, Morita and Ichimura. The area featured a number of tea houses connected to thetheaters which provided visitors with guidance, food, rest and other services,and many theater proprietors and actors settled in the area, forming a massiveentertainment district. The district flourished until the first year of theMeiji Era, however, the theaters relocated one after another thereafter and thetheater town was lost.
Paired with the the above view is a a present, or now (今), view of the Shintomi theater, the re-named Morita theater, established in 1875. In September 1872 the Morita-za was relocated from Saruwaka-chō to Shintomi-chō. See below for a photograph of the Shintomi-za taken about the same time this print was made.
These past and present views were orginally printed together as one oban-size sheet as shown below and later cut apart. They are two of at least 32 views, contained on 16 uncut oban-size sheets, in the series Famous Places of Tokyo: Past and Present.
古今東京名所: 猿若街三芝居・府下第一の劇場 新富座
Kokon Tokyo meisho: Saruwaka-machi sanshibai [top] Fukadaiichi no gekijō Shintomi-za [bottom]
c. 1883 photo of the Shintomi-za
The Series: Famous Places of Tokyo: Past and Present
A series of at least sixteen uncut oban-size sheets depicting a past or old (古) view on the top sheet, and present or now (今) view, on the bottom sheet, of a particular area of Tokyo. Many of the views are similar to those found in Hiroshige's One Hundred Famous Views of Edo (Meisho Edo hyakkei).
Print Details
| IHL Catalog | #1283, #1292 | ||
| Title or Description | #1283: Sarukawa-machi sanshibai 猿若街三芝居 #1292: First Theater District, Shintomi Theater Fukadaiichi no gekijō Shintomi-za 府下第一の劇場 新富座 | ||
| Series | Famous Places of Tokyo: Past and The Present (Kokon Tokyo meisho 古今東京名所) | ||
| Artist | Utagawa Hiroshige III (1842–1894) | ||
| Signature |   | ||
| Seal | no seal | ||
| Publication Date |  | ||
| Publisher |
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| Carver | |||
| Impression | IHL Cat. #1283 and IHL Cat. #1292 - excellent | ||
| Colors | IHL Cat. #1283 and IHL Cat. #1292 - excellent | ||
| Condition | IHL Cat. #1283 and IHL Cat. #1292 - good: light wrinkling from removal from backing | ||
| Genre | nishiki-e; meisho-e | ||
| Miscellaneous |   | ||
| Format | chūban yoko-e | ||
| H x W Paper | IHL Cat. #1283: 7 1/8 x 9 5/16 in. (18.1 x 23.7 cm) IHL Cat. #1292: 7 1/4 x 9 3/8 in. (18.4 x 23.8 cm) | ||
| H x W Image | IHL Cat. #1283: 6 1/2 x 8 9/16 in. (16.5 x 21.7 cm) IHL Cat. #1292: 6 7/16 x 9 5/8 in. (16.4 x 24.4 cm) | ||
| Literature | |||
| Collections This Print | Library City Chuo Tokyo Japan 000747765; Japan Arts Council 09156; Art Gallery of Greater Victoria 2005.043.001 (IHL Cat. #1283), 2006.027.006 (IHL Cat. #1292) |
last revision:
3/28/2020
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