,,harunobu4 ,lovers walking in ,snow4 ,,harunobu4 ,lovers walking in ,snow4 ,japanese ,colour-,prints and ,their ,designers ,a ,lecture ,delivered ,before the ,japan ,society of ,new ,york on ,april #ai1 #aiaa ,by ,frederick ,william ,gookin ,new ,york ,the ,japan ,society #aiac ,,contents ,,japanese ,,colour-,,prints ,,and ,,their ,,designers ,,catalogue ,,of ,a ,,loan ,,collection ,,of ,,japanese ,,colour-,,prints ,,introduction ,,catalogue ,,illustrations ,,harunobu4 ,lovers walking in ,snow4 ,,moronobu4 ,nobleman and two ,ladies at ,seashore4 ,,kiyomasu4 ,actors' ,boating ,party ,,masanobu4 ,geisha playing ,samisen4 ,,toyonobu4 ,actor reading ,letter ,,kiyomitsu4 ,daimyo ,procession ,game4 ,,harunobu4 ,young ,woman before ,torii4 ,,harunobu4 ,the ,sleeping ,elder ,sister4 ,,harunobu4 ,the ,sleeping ,elder ,sister4 ,,harunobu4 ,the ,sleeping ,elder ,sister4 ,,harunobu4 ,woman reading ,letter4 ,,koryusai4 ,musume leaping from ,temple ,balcony4 ,,shunsho4 ,woman in ,red4 ,,kiyonaga4 ,holiday ,group at ,gotenyama4 ,,kiyonaga4 ,picnic ,party4 ,,buncho4 ,actor as ,woman talking to ,men4 ,,kiyonaga4 ,man and two ,women approaching ,temple4 ,,shuncho4 ,women watching ,girls bouncing ,balls4 ,,eishi4 ,fte in a nobleman's palace4 ,,sharaku4 ,two ,actors4 ,,utamaro4 ,woman with a ,musical ,toy4 ,,toyokuni4 ,women in ,bath ,house4 ,,hokusai4 ,fuji from ,ushibori4 ,,hiroshige4 ,pines at ,hammamatsu4 ,,japanese ,,colour-,,prints ,,and ,,their ,,designers ,in the annals of art production the colour-prints designed by the master artists of the ,ukiyo school occupy a unique place4 ,they represent a plebeian art which was not a spontaneous upgrowth from the soil1 but1 so to speak1 a down-growth or offshoot from an old and highly developed art of aristocratic lineage4 ,this elder art had its fountain-head in ancient ,china4 ,that country1 during the ,tang and the ,sung dynasties 7#fah-ije1 #ifj-abhj71 was the seat of an aesthetic movement during which painting and other arts reached an extraordinarily high development4 ,to the works produced during this great flowering-time of art the ,japanese painters of the classical schools turned for inspiration and enlightenment4 ,these works were distinguished by singleness of purpose1 rhythmic vitality1 and synthetic coherence1 and by a clear conception of the essential that goes far beyond anything elsewhere attained1 and which1 when fully apprehended1 must inevitably force a revision of ,western ideas and criteria4 ,the art of ancient ,china and of the earlier ,japanese schools is an art refined1 poetic1 and intensive to the last degree4 ,it is based upon profound understanding of aesthetic laws4 ,the artists were carefully grounded in the fundamental principles that govern all art1 whether ,oriental or ,occidental4 ,the result of this training is apparent in the homogeneity of their works4 ,in ,europe very confused notions have prevailed as to what should be done and what is permissible in art4 ,not even the great artists have always seen clearly2 had they done so1 it cannot be doubted that ,western achievement would have attained a much higher level than it has ever reached4 ,in the ,japanese modifications of the ancient ,chinese art its traditions and aesthetic ideals were sedulously preserved4 ,with only rare exceptions1 the artists--and under this head it is necessary to include potters1 lacquerers1 metal-workers1 swordsmiths1 and others--were drawn from the upper classes4 ,many of them were in the service of the daimyo1 and did not sell their productions1 but received from their noble patrons regular stipends in koku of rice4 ,seldom did any of their works find their way into the hands of the common people1 who had little opportunity1 therefore1 to become familiar with them4 ,gradually1 however1 as the number of paintings1 statues1 and other art objects multiplied and the temples were filled with votive offerings1 the classical art made its impress upon buildings1 wearing apparel1 and utensils of all sorts2 its conventions and principles were laid hold of by all classes and became the heritage of the entire people4 ,,moronobu4 ,nobleman and two ,ladies at ,seashore4 ,,moronobu4 ,nobleman and two ,ladies at ,seashore4 ,the social fabric in old ,japan was one of sharp distinctions4 ,at the upper end of the scale were the ,emperor2 the kuge1 or court nobles2 the daimyo1 or lords of the two hundred and fifty-one provinces2 and the samurai1 or hereditary military men1 from whom were recruited the officials1 priests1 and scholars4 ,between these and the lower classes was an almost immeasurable gulf4 ,highest among the heimen1 or commoners1 were the farmers4 ,below them were the artisans1 and still lower were the merchants1 innkeepers1 servants1 and the like2 while lowest of all were the eta1 or outcasts1 a class comprising scavengers1 butchers1 leather-workers1 and others engaged in what were considered degrading occupations4 ,under the peaceful regime of the ,tokugawa shoguns there was a sociological change that in the cities almost amounted to a transformation4 ,the most salient feature was the rise of the tradesmen and artisans to wealth and power4 ,many places of amusement sprang up1 restaurants and tea-houses multiplied1 jugglers1 story-tellers1 musicians1 and other itinerant entertainers found audiences in every street1 ftes were frequently held in the temple compounds1 the theatre rose to a position of prominence1 and the yukwaku1 or courtesan quarters1 with their medley of attractions1 became established institutions4 ,the art of the ,ukiyo was a direct outcome of the gay life of this time4 ,the inception of the school dates back to the closing years of the sixteenth century1 when a reaction set in against the ,chinese classicism of the ,ashikaga period4 ,this manifested itself in the choice of ,japanese instead of ,chinese subjects1 and in novel treatment in which features of both the classic ,kano and ,tosa styles were combined1 but which in many respects broke away from academic traditions4 ,the reputed leader of the revolt was ,iwasa ,shoi1 better known as ,matahei1 son of the ,daimyo of ,itami2 but other distinguished artists1 notably ,kano ,sanraku1 also painted pictures in the new manner1 which was not then held to constitute a distinct school4 ,the subjects being drawn from the life of the people1 these pictures were called ,ukiyo4 is the ,japanese term for a picture or drawing47#a7 ,ukiyo1 as originally written1 had a ,buddhistic signification and was applied to the secular as distinguished from the ecclesiastical world4 ,literally the word means 8the miserable world10 but as now used it may be more accurately translated as 8the passing 7or floating7 world of every-day life40 ,perhaps for the reason that ,ukiyo themes were not considered quite dignified1 and because they did not express poetic ideas1 the ,ukiyo paintings of ,matahei and his contemporaries and successors1 though prized and much sought after1 were seldom signed1 and the identification of their authorship is a matter of extreme difficulty4 ,for more than half a century works in this manner continued to be produced in considerable numbers1 but the movement did not crystallize into a school until1 in the person of ,hishikawa ,moronobu1 a leader appeared to give it form and direction4 ,moronobu was an artist of rare distinction4 ,his paintings were eagerly sought by the daimyos and the wealthier samurai4 ,but ,moronobu was a man of the people1 and it was as a designer of book illustrations and later of ichimai-y1 or single-sheet prints1 that he gave the impetus to ,ukiyo4 ,for fifty years or more prior to his time books with engraved illustrations had been published in ,japan1 but they were comparatively few and the illustrations were poor and crudely executed4 ,the twelve drawings ,moronobu made for a book of instruction for women in etiquette and hygiene1 published in #afei1 marked a decided advance4 ,this1 so far as we know1 was the first of a long series of books illustrated by him4 ,their popularity was deservedly great1 and by them his fame became wide-spread4 ,the illustrations were printed in black from blocks similar to those from which the text was printed1 and were characterized by fine broad treatment and a rather wiry but strong and expressive outline4 ,about #afgj ,moronobu began to issue large single-sheet prints which could be affixed to screens or mounted as kakemono4 ,these prints1 which were impressions in black from one block only1 are known as sumi-y--sumi being the ,japanese name for ,chinese--or1 as we incorrectly call it1 ,india--ink4 ,they were designed to be coloured by hand1 and apparently a part of the edition was so coloured before being placed on sale by the publishers4 ,at first this colouring consisted of a few touches of yellow-green crudely laid on2 later it became more elaborate1 and occasionally we meet with prints that are very beautifully coloured1 but in such cases it is impossible to tell when or by whom the colouring was done4 ,the probability is that in some instances it was the work of purchasers of the prints4 ,moronobu's pupils1 of whom there were many1 devoted themselves almost exclusively to painting4 ,after his death in #afie1 the production of prints fell chiefly into the hands of ,torii ,kiyonobu and his son ,torii ,kiyomasu1 two artists who take rank among the most talented men of the ,ukiyo school4 ,moronobu had taken for the subjects of his prints historic incidents1 the manners and customs of the people1 and1 in particular1 women and their occupations and amusements4 ,to these the ,torii artists1 seeing a new and fertile field for the print-designer in the rise of the theatre as a popular form of entertainment1 added portraits of actors in the costumes of their most admired rles4 ,especially esteemed were ,kiyonobu's portraits of the first ,danjuro4 ,during the ,genroku period 7#afhh-agjd7 the people developed a passion for the theatre that amounted to veritable madness4 ,in the first quarter of the eighteenth century this reached a height that sorely troubled the ,tokugawa rulers4 ,to check it various expedients--among them the exclusion of women from the stage--were tried4 ,they only added fuel to the flame4 ,certain gross practices were abolished4 ,this helped to purify the theatre1 but also to perpetuate it by removing the seeds of what must inevitably have meant its early decay4 ,actors of distinguished ability became popular idols4 ,their comings and goings were like royal progresses4 ,wherever they went1 were it to view the cherry blossoms at ,ueno1 for a boating party on the river1 or for a visit to the ,yoshiwara1 they moved in state4 ,yet their rank in the social scale was so low that they were looked upon as little better than eta4 ,the earliest actors were contemptuously termed kawara-mono 7river-bed folk71 from the fact that the first theatrical performances in ,japan were upon a stage erected in the dry bed of the ,kamogawa at ,kyoto4 ,the stigma that attached to their origin and to the vulgarity of the early performances has never been entirely lifted4 ,many of the ,ukiyo artists felt it a degradation to make drawings of actors4 ,nevertheless the popular demand created a supply1 and for more than a century a large proportion of the enormous output of prints consisted of theatrical scenes and portraits of the performers4 ,,kiyomasu4 ,actors' ,boating ,party ,,kiyomasu4 ,actors' ,boating ,party ,many of the prints produced during the early years of the eighteenth century were large single figures of actors1 geishas1 and women of the ,yoshiwara4 ,these were broadly treated1 with strong1 free brush-strokes based upon the technique of the ,kano masters and quite different from ,moronobu's style1 which was more nearly like that of the ,tosa painters4 ,each of the classical schools1 ,i may explain1 had its own peculiar methods1 for which brushes of special shape were required4 ,in their spontaneity1 their freedom1 their glorious sweep of line1 these prints are among the finest works of the ,ukiyo school4 ,among them are many masterpieces of linear composition4 ,yet by the people of the upper classes they were regarded as hopelessly vulgar4 ,though the ,kano painters used similar sweeping strokes1 they laid great stress upon carefully modulated tone4 ,the notan1 or lightness and darkness of the ink in different parts of the drawing1 was an essential quality4 ,it should not be confused with chiaroscuro1 the science of light and shade4 ,notan signifies merely difference in lightness and darkness of tone4 ,in the early prints this did not appear4 ,all the lines were uniformly black4 ,and the addition of colouring which was looked upon as coarse and gaudy was a further offence to persons of refined taste4 ,our vision not being hampered by the canons of the ,kano academy1 we can appreciate the distinguished character of these compositions4 ,unquestionably the brush-work of a ,sesshu1 a ,motonobu1 or a ,tanyu--to name a few only of the most eminent of the ,japanese painters--has a precious quality not to be found in any printed line47#b7 ,nevertheless the primitive ,ukiyo prints have a freshness and vital force peculiarly their own4 ,the word 8primitive0 as applied to these prints calls for a word of explanation4 ,they are primitive1 not in their art1 which is highly developed1 but merely as regards its application to wood-engraving4 ,the failure of ,japanese connoisseurs to appreciate ,ukiyo art is not1 however1 entirely or even principally because of its technique4 ,the art of the classical schools is deeply imbued with poetic feeling and usually is dignified in subject4 ,ukiyo art1 on the contrary1 is flippant1 whimsical1 comic4 ,except when it deals with portraits1 landscapes1 or birds and flowers--subjects that are not strictly ,ukiyo--it is seldom that the things depicted are intended to be taken quite seriously4 ,in nearly every picture there is some joke1 open or cleverly hidden1 some amusing fantasy in the shape of a modern analogue or travesty of popular myth1 well-known tale1 or historical event4 ,sly hits at the vices or follies of the aristocrats are not uncommon4 ,a very large proportion of the subjects deals with the theatre and the denizens of the ,yoshiwara4 ,to the ,japanese of the upper classes ,ukiyo art was a synonym for the art of the underworld4 ,it is not surprising that they failed to appreciate its merit4 ,to give ,ukiyo paintings or prints an honourable place in one's house was a confession of lack of taste4 ,were there no other reason1 the subjects for the most part rendered them unfit1 if not impossible4 ,the prints were indeed amusing1 and therefore many of them were saved2 but they were looked upon much as we regard the pictures in our comic periodicals4 ,even when the art in these is good1 it is hard to disassociate it from the humour and to enjoy it for itself alone4 ,more commonly we fail to appreciate it as art or even to think of it as such4 ,so it was with the prints4 ,to the ,japanese they appeared little better than children's toys4 ,in considering this we should not overlook the important circumstance that when first printed they were in general less charming than they are to-day4 ,the wonderful colour that makes them so entrancing has come in large measure through the mellowing influence of time4 ,not infrequently this has wrought transformations that would seem incredible did not close study show clearly the changes that have taken place4 ,,masanobu4 ,geisha playing ,samisen4 ,,masanobu4 ,geisha playing ,samisen4 ,even to-day inherited prejudice prevents wide-spread appreciation of the prints in the land of their origin4 ,our enthusiastic admiration is still more or less a mystery to our neighbours across the ,pacific4 ,only now1 when most of the fine prints have passed into the hands of ,european and ,american collectors1 are the ,japanese connoisseurs beginning to understand how it is that the ,western art-lover1 unfettered by any traditional point of view and not disturbed by any meanings the subject may hold or suggest1 is able to perceive the glorious colour1 the superb composition1 the masterly treatment and rare beauty to which they have been blind4 ,the history of art is everywhere among civilized peoples a record of the influence of a succession of ideas1 each in turn dominating for a longer or a shorter period the character of what is produced4 ,when an idea has sufficient vitality to constitute the germ of a specific type of art1 and artists of creative genius are inspired by it1 the votaries working under the stimulus of a common ideal form what we designate as a school4 8,when left to pursue its course of development unchecked10 each marked type of art1 as ,john ,addington ,symonds pointed out in one of his essays1 8passes through stages corresponding to the embryonic1 the adolescent1 the matured1 the decadent1 and the exhausted10 ,this sequence1 he showed1 was clearly marked in the evolution of ,italian painting1 the ,attic and the ,elizabethan drama4 ,any of the classic schools of ,japanese painting1 the ,kos1 the ,yamato1 the ,sesshu1 or the ,kano1 would furnish an excellent illustration1 though in studying these movements it would be necessary to follow them back to their ,chinese antecedents4 ,the ,ukiyo school affords a particularly striking example4 ,in the works of the earlier artists--,moronobu1 ,kiyonobu1 ,kiyomasu1 and the ,kwaigetsudo group--we find superabundant vigour1 swift inspiration1 and splendid though sometimes brutal force4 ,the note of prophecy that these works contain is found also in those of the next generation of artists1 foremost among whom was ,okumura ,masanobu4 ,the fire of enthusiasm still glows brightly1 but more attention is paid to subtleties of style1 to beauty of detail1 and to the development of technical processes4 ,hand-coloured prints are superseded by those in which the colour as well as the black outline is printed4 ,ukiyo has become an art of the printed pictures which in large measure have taken the place of paintings4 ,then1 after a brief interval of eager experiment and rapid changes1 comes the flowering-time1 when a group of great artists turn out by the thousand works in which spiritual intensity is combined with grace1 beauty1 refinement of composition1 and technical perfection4 ,this is the epoch of ,harunobu1 ,shunsho1 ,shigemasa1 ,koryusai1 ,kiyonaga1 and ,shuncho4 ,the decline of the initial impetus that brought the school into being is plainly apparent in the works of the next generation4 ,utamaro was an artist of the very first rank1 whose genius cannot be gainsaid2 ,eishi and ,toyokuni were only a little less brilliant2 but it was their misfortune to come upon the scene when the cycle of animating ideas had been exhausted4 ,too virile to be content merely to echo the performances of their predecessors1 they spent their energy in inventing variations upon the perfected type4 ,it was the only course open to them1 but it led steadily and swiftly downward1 though neither the artists nor the people who gleefully applauded each successive innovation were conscious of the decadence4 ,with the appearance of still another generation of artists upon the scene1 the degradation of the school was complete4 ,artistic feeling was obscured by blatant vulgarity and affectation4 ,there was a steady letting down to the level of the popular taste1 which was steadily lowered in consequence4 ,the skill of the more able artists was expended in the production of works interesting chiefly as tours de force1 more remarkable for technical than for artistic merit2 the tendency toward exaggerated drawing became more pronounced2 colouring grew more crude1 raw1 and over-vivid4 ,coincident with this decline in the art of the ,popular ,school was a change for the worse in the fashions of the time4 ,loud patterns for brocades and other fabrics came into vogue2 garments became showy and elaborate2 coiffures1 more especially those of the demi-monde1 were often startling in their extravagance4 ,as the prints were accurate mirrors of contemporary life1 in these changed fashions may be found a partial explanation of the inferiority of the works of the later men4 ,the ,ukiyo ,ryu was a school of design which laid its impress upon all of the arts4 ,the prints were but one of its phases1 though the principal and the most distinguished of them4 ,the rise1 culmination1 and disintegration took place all along the line4 ,toward the middle of the nineteenth century the ,ukiyo school sank into the dotage of decrepitude1 and then into the sleep from which there is no awakening4 ,i choose this phrase deliberately4 ,an art that is of the past can never be revived4 ,we may strive to work in the style of ,harunobu or of ,kiyonaga4 ,all we can do is to copy their forms and imitate their mannerisms4 ,we cannot possibly get our inspiration from the same source as they2 that dried up at the fountain-head long ago4 ,the best work we can do in their style must necessarily lack creative force and be without a spark of real vitality4 ,primarily the charm of the ,ukiyo colour-prints is due to the fact that the leading masters of the school were artists of exceptional power4 ,it is also due to the fact that most of them7#c7 made print-designing their chief occupation1 to which they devoted their thought1 time1 and skill1 and that with rare exceptions they were less distinguished as painters4 ,,toyonobu4 ,actor reading ,letter ,,toyonobu4 ,actor reading ,letter ,from about #afgj1 when ,moronobu began to issue single-sheet prints1 until about #agdb1 a period of at least seventy years1 the prints were in black outline and were coloured by hand4 ,they were1 in fact1 cheap paintings4 ,early in the eighteenth century the chief pigment used in colouring them was red lead4 ,the ,japanese name for this pigment is tan1 and the prints upon which it appears are designated as tan-y4 ,about #agaj yellow and citrine were commonly used with the tan4 ,four or five years later a new style of hand-colouring1 said to have been devised by ,torii ,kiyonobu1 came into vogue and greatly modified the style in which the prints were designed4 ,in place of tan he substituted beni1 a very beautiful but fugitive red extracted from the saffron4 ,this was used in combination with a greenish yellow 7probably gamboge7 and low-toned blues and purples4 ,finer details were introduced into the designs1 and the colouring in general was more carefully done4 ,in response to a growing demand for less expensive pieces smaller prints 7hoso-y7 became common4 ,to give brilliance to the pigments a little thin lacquer 7urushi7 was mixed with them1 and1 while wet1 parts of the design were sprinkled with metallic powder1 which was probably applied by blowing it through a small bamboo tube4 ,these prints were known as urushi-y1 or lacquer prints4 ,a little later the custom grew up of painting parts of the prints with black lacquer4 ,not until the year #agdb did the practice begin of applying colour by impressions from flat wood blocks4 ,why the invention should have been so long delayed1 and why1 after it was once made1 nearly fourteen years more should have elapsed before the number of colour-blocks was increased beyond two1 are questions to which no certain answer is yet forthcoming4 ,it is incredible that during the forty years when innumerable hand-coloured prints were issued no one should have conceived the idea of printing the colour as well as the black outline4 ,without doubt some practical difficulty connected with the printing stood in the way4 ,possibly the thing that awaited discovery was the trick of mixing rice paste with the colour to keep it from running4 ,or1 as is more likely1 it took a long while to discover a practical method of securing accurate register in impressions made upon damp paper which was liable to stretch or shrink during the printing process4 ,whatever the problem may have been1 the honour of the solution is due to ,okumura ,masanobu4 ,being a publisher as well as an artist1 he was no doubt alive to the economic advantage of a cheaper process and to the attraction of novelty4 ,some years earlier he had invented the hashira-y1 or pillar-print1 and had also put forth a series of prints that show a fair understanding of the laws of linear perspective to which he gave the name of ,ukiy4 ,being an artist as well as a publisher1 ,masanobu perceived that the change in process called for a change in the style of the designs4 ,the very first of the new prints1 therefore1 were characterized by finer and more exquisite detail than was suitable for the hand-coloured editions4 ,the colours used were beni and a soft green2 and the name beni-y1 which had been applied to the hand-coloured prints in which beni was used1 was also given to them4 ,a happier selection of colours could not have been made4 ,by thinning the red and modifying the hue of the green a wide range of effects was secured4 ,almost every possible combination and variation was tried during the fourteen or fifteen years that the beni-y were in vogue4 ,the world is far richer because of this long period before the number of colour-blocks was increased1 since time was afforded to work out the decorative possibilities resulting from the limitation to two colours and black and white4 ,this limitation demanded fine skill and creative resource in the invention of pattern and the distribution of the colours employed47#d7 ,the results achieved were remarkable4 ,until one has seen them it is impossible to realize that so much life and vivacity of colouring could be given by impressions from two blocks charged with rose and green4 ,,kiyomitsu4 ,daimyo ,procession ,game4 ,,kiyomitsu4 ,daimyo ,procession ,game4 ,by many the beni-y are regarded as the choicest products of the school4 ,so charming were they when first printed that they speedily drove the urushi-y prints out of the market1 with the exception of the tall hashira-y1 or pillar prints1 of which hand-coloured editions continued to be produced for a year or two1 to satisfy those who still wished paintings rather than prints4 ,most of the beni-y that have survived until our time are very much faded4 ,the beni has quite generally turned into a soft yellow or disappeared altogether4 ,the green is more stable1 but that also has in many instances become a warm citrine or russet4 ,extremely rare are the specimens in which the original colour has not suffered material modification4 ,from the testimony of the prints themselves it appears probable that very soon after ,okumura ,masanobu issued the first prints in beni and green1 similar prints were put forth by ,nishimura ,shigenaga1 ,ishikawa ,toyonobu1 ,torii ,shiro 7otherwise ,kiyonobu the second71 and all the ,yedo print-designers1 among them the veteran ,torii ,kiyomasu4 ,none of these men seems to have attempted any marked departure from the type established by ,okumura4 ,about #agee1 however1 a group of young men appeared upon the scene1 who were fired with zeal for further experiments4 ,the leaders were ,torii ,kiyomitsu1 ,kitao ,shigemasa1 and ,suzuki ,harunobu4 ,kiyomitsu began by trying novel colour schemes such as two tones of beni instead of beni and green4 ,then he tried a third colour-block4 ,after this new developments followed in rapid succession4 ,the variety and range of the colour schemes broadened almost from day to day4 ,at first the wider resources proved an embarrassment1 but the mastery attained in dealing with the simpler means soon enabled the artists to take advantage of them4 ,invention was stimulated4 ,in #agfd a printer named ,kinroku discovered a method by which printing in colours from many blocks became possible4 ,we can only guess at the nature of the difficulty that was surmounted2 but as it is known that the printing was usually done upon dampened paper1 it is evident that the stretching or shrinking of the sheets1 to which ,i have already referred1 must have proved extremely troublesome1 and that every additional block must have multiplied the liability to defective register4 ,it is reasonably safe to assume1 therefore1 that to find some means of overcoming this was the problem which remained unsolved for so many years4 ,,harunobu4 ,young ,woman before ,torii4 ,,harunobu4 ,young ,woman before ,torii4 ,the name of ,suzuki ,harunobu is familiar to every admirer of ,japanese prints4 ,it is in large measure to his genius that the development of full-colour printing is due4 ,he was not only the first artist to make use of the new process1 but he took advantage of it to bring out prints of a novel type4 ,very dainty and graceful these were1 and in the poetic allusions or quiet humour with which they were charged1 and in the quality of the brush-strokes with which the drawings were executed1 they made a direct appeal to men of taste4 ,success was instantaneous4 ,by the year #agfe ,harunobu had come to the front and distanced all competitors for popular favour4 ,the serenity and compelling charm of his compositions brought him wide fame4 ,realizing the possibilities that now lay before him1 he proudly exclaimed1 8,why should ,i degrade myself by the delineation of actors80 ,his ambition1 he said1 was to become 8the true successor of the painters in the department of printing02 that is to say1 to design prints that should be worthy substitutes for paintings4 ,instead of restricting himself to a few primary or secondary hues and the variations resulting from their superposition1 he mixed his colours to get the precise tint desired1 and he used as many colour-blocks as were needed for the effects at which he aimed4 ,the ,yedo-y1 or ,yedo pictures1 as the prints had been called from the fact that they were produced only at the eastern capital1 were now denominated nishiki-y1 or brocade pictures1 from the number of colours woven together in them4 ,to the printing itself1 the charging of the blocks with colour1 the character and quality of the pigments and of the paper used1 ,harunobu gave careful attention1 and these things were greatly improved as a result of his experiments4 ,under his leadership the art now entered upon the period of its greatest triumphs4 ,in the eager search for novel subjects scarcely anything was left untouched4 ,history1 mythology1 and romance1 the numberless ftes and merrymakings of the people and the daily routine of their lives1 representations of celebrated poets and heroes1 scenes from the drama1 portraits of popular actors and courtesans1 the revels of the ,yoshiwara1 animals and plants1 familiar scenes and famous landscapes1 furnished motives for almost endless broadsheets and book illustrations4 ,no other art was ever more crowded with human interest4 ,the forward movement in print-designing at this epoch was helped on by a number of highly gifted artists who seem to have worked together to some extent4 ,katsukawa ,shunsho1 who took up the theatrical branch of print-designing that ,harunobu scorned1 is one of the most distinguished masters of the ,ukiyo school4 ,he was a designer of marked power1 a colourist of the first rank4 ,his works are not yet appreciated as they should be1 but the finest of them yield pure aesthetic delight of most exalted quality4 ,kitao ,shigemasa1 ,ippitsusai ,buncho1 and ,isoda ,koryusai also rank among the first-rate men of this period4 ,in the contest for popular favour during the ten years following the death of ,harunobu1 which took place in the summer of #aggj1 it has been said that the guerdon rested upon ,koryusai1 but that is a mistake1 for both ,shunsho and ,shigemasa stood higher in the estimation of qualified judges4 ,all1 however1 were surpassed a few years later by ,kiyonaga1 the last great artist of the ,torii line and the culminating figure in the history of the ,popular ,school4 ,he conquered by the rugged strength and marvellous quality of his brush-strokes1 by the richness of his colouring and the ripe mastery he displayed over all the resources of his craft4 ,but also he created a new type of design--that which found expression in the great diptychs and triptychs that stand as the triumphs of colour-printing4 ,at the height of his power his influence over his contemporaries was so great that1 without exception1 the younger men among them copied his style as closely as they could4 ,when ,kiyonaga1 about #agic1 stopped designing prints1 the decadence had already set in4 ,the decade that followed was a period of rapid deterioration1 with ,utamaro as its particular evil genius4 ,yet many of the most splendid of the prints were produced in that decade4 ,where shall we look for anything finer than ,eishi's wonderful series with the chocolate background1 or his triptychs of the ,prince ,genji series8 ,where shall we find anything to equal the brilliant characterization of ,sharaku's actor portraits8 ,where else shall we turn for such marvellously facile rhythmic line1 such swift1 vital handling as that which made ,utamaro's masterpieces the despair of his many imitators8 ,toyokuni also designed many fine prints2 but as he was a man of less force than the others ,i have named1 he fell faster and farther than they did1 and fewer of his works command our admiration4 ,,harunobu4 ,the ,sleeping ,elder ,sister4 ,,harunobu4 ,the ,sleeping ,elder ,sister4 ,i have left myself little time to speak of two eminent artists1 both of them world-renowned1 who by their genius made the latter years of the ,ukiyo school as notable in their way as any in its entire history4 ,either ,hokusai or ,hiroshige might well engage our attention for an entire evening4 ,both were extraordinarily prolific2 ,hokusai was the more versatile and has the wider reputation4 ,both are among the greatest landscape artists the world has ever known4 ,their numerous prints of landscapes are a revelation of the possibilities of originality in composition and variety of interest in this field4 ,unless one has studied these prints in fine examples1 it is impossible to realize how great is their merit4 ,this is true of all the prints1 but particularly true of ,hiroshige's4 ,between the best impressions and the very good ones the difference is really astonishing4 ,but the best are so extremely rare as to make it probable that because of the difficulty and the cost of printing1 very few of them were issued--the publishers finding cheaper editions more profitable4 ,though classed as ,ukiyo artists1 ,hokusai and ,hiroshige really represent a separate movement which undoubtedly would have crystallized into a distinct school had worthy followers arisen to carry it forward1 had the times been different1 and1 last but not least1 had the genius of the two masters been less transcendent4 ,in this sketch of the history of the art of ,ukiyo colour-printing only the more salient features have been touched upon4 ,of the prints themselves it is not too much to say that the finest of them are the most beautiful specimens of printing that have been done in any land at any time4 ,yet none but the most primitive methods--or what from our point of view may seem such--were employed4 ,the most wonderful among all the prints is but a 8rubbing0 or impression taken by hand from wood blocks4 ,the artist having drawn the design with the point of a brush in outline upon thin paper1 it was handed over to the engraver1 who began his part of the work by pasting the design face downward upon a flat block of wood1 usually cherry1 sawn plankwise as in the case of the blocks used by ,european wood-engravers in the time of ,drer4 ,the paper was then scraped at the back until the design showed through distinctly in every part4 ,next1 the wood was carefully cut away1 leaving the lines in relief1 care being taken to preserve faithfully every feature of the brush-strokes with which the drawing was executed4 ,a number of impressions were then taken in ,chinese ink from this 8key block0 and handed to the artist to fill in with colour4 ,this ingenious plan1 which is manifestly an outgrowth of the early custom of colouring the ink prints 7sumi-y7 by hand1 and which perhaps would never have been thought of had not the colour itself been an afterthought1 enabled the artist to try many experiments in colour arrangement with a minimum amount of labour4 ,the colour scheme and ornamentation of the surfaces having been determined1 the engraver made as many subsidiary blocks7#e7 as were required1 the parts meant to take the colour being left raised and the rest cut away4 ,accurate register was secured by the simplest of devices4 ,a right-angled mark engraved at the lower right-hand corner of the original block1 and a straight mark in exact line with its lower arm at the left1 were repeated upon each subsequent block1 and1 in printing1 the sheets were laid down so that their lower and right-hand edges corresponded with the marks so made4 ,the defective register which may be observed in many prints was sometimes caused by unequal shrinking or swelling of the blocks4 ,in consequence of this1 late impressions are often inferior to the early ones1 even though printed with the same care1 and from blocks that had worn very little4 ,the alignment will usually be found to be exact upon one side of the print1 but to get further out of register as the other side is approached4 ,the printing was done on moist paper with ,chinese ink and colour applied to the blocks with flat brushes4 ,a little rice paste was usually mixed with the pigments to keep them from running and to increase their brightness4 ,sometimes dry rice flour was dusted over the blocks after they were charged4 ,to this method of charging the blocks much of the beauty of the result may be attributed4 ,the colour could be modified1 graded1 or changed at will1 the blocks covered entirely or partially4 ,hard1 mechanical accuracy was avoided4 ,impressions differed even when the printer's aim was uniformity4 ,sometimes1 in inking the 8key block10 which was usually the last impressed1 some of the lines would fail to receive the pigment1 or would be overcharged4 ,this was especially liable to happen when the blocks were worn and the edges of the lines became rounded4 ,a little more or a little less pigment sometimes made a decided difference in the tone of the print1 and1 it may be noted1 has not infrequently determined the nature and the extent of the discolouration wrought by time4 ,,harunobu4 ,the ,sleeping ,elder ,sister4 ,,harunobu4 ,the ,sleeping ,elder ,sister4 ,in printing1 a sheet of paper was laid upon the block and the printer rubbed off the impression1 using for the purpose a kind of pad called a baren4 ,this was applied to the back of the paper and manipulated with a circular movement of the hand4 ,by varying the dampness of the paper and the degree of pressure the colour could be forced deep into the paper1 or left upon the outer fibres only1 so that the whiteness of those below the surface would shine through1 giving the peculiar effect of light which is seen at its best in some of the surimono 7prints designed for distribution at ,new ,year's or other particular occasions7 by ,hokusai and his contemporaries4 ,uninked blocks were used for embossing portions of the designs4 ,the skill of the printer was a large factor in producing the best results4 ,even the brilliancy of the colour resulted largely from his manipulation of the pigments and various little tricks in their application4 ,the first impressions were not the best1 some forty or fifty having to be pulled before the block would take the colour properly4 ,many kinds of paper were used4 ,for the best of the old prints it was thick1 spongy in texture1 and of an almost ivory tone4 ,the finest specimens were printed under the direct personal supervision of the artists who designed them4 ,every detail was looked after with the utmost care4 ,no pains were spared in mixing the tints1 in charging the blocks1 in laying on the paper so as to get the best possible impressions4 ,experiments were often tried by varying the colour schemes4 ,prints of important series1 as1 for example1 ,hokusai's famous 8,thirty-six ,views of ,fuji10 are met with in widely divergent colourings4 ,the pigments most frequently used were comparatively few1 and different lots of the same pigment seem to have been far from uniform in hue4 ,as to this and some other points upon which we should be glad to have light1 no very certain information exists4 ,we do not know how soon some of the colours began to fade4 ,internal evidence indicates that in some instances the change took place within a comparatively short time1 as in the case of the lovely blue used by ,harunobu and ,shunsho chiefly as a colour for sky and water4 ,it appears to have been a compound tint formed of blue mixed with some other colour to modify its intensity4 ,in the change which followed--possibly a chemical one--the blue disappeared in whole or in part1 leaving in its stead a buff hue having peculiar depth and a soft1 velvety texture4 ,to our eyes the modified colour is often far more beautiful than the original1 but the variation1 it may safely be asserted1 was not desired by the artist4 ,the quality of the colour wrought by these changes explains why it is not possible to-day to reproduce the prints successfully4 ,the printing process is still in use1 and1 as the plates in such publications as 8,kokka0 attest1 very splendid results are still yielded by it4 ,but some of the old pigments cannot now be obtained2 and if they could be1 we should still have to wait long years for time to mellow the prints made with them4 ,indigo can be had1 but it is not the same indigo and its colour is not quite like the old1 which was extracted from blue cloth imported from ,china4 ,beni can be made1 but the secret of the blue added to it to produce the divine violet seen in many of the prints has been lost1 as has that of the precious moss-green used by ,utamaro4 ,many reproductions have been made during the last twenty-five years1 and some of them are extremely clever2 but the printing lacks depth1 and when placed beside the old works they appear dull and lifeless4 ,colour-prints were made for many purposes4 ,to some extent they were used as advertisements4 ,incidentally they served as fashion plates4 ,some were regularly published and sold in shops4 ,others were designed expressly upon orders from patrons1 to whom the entire edition--sometimes a very small one--was delivered4 ,the number struck from any block1 or set of blocks1 varied widely4 ,of the more popular prints many editions were printed1 each one1 as might be expected1 inferior to those that preceded it4 ,not infrequently the ,yedo publishers removed from their out-of-date blocks the marks showing their imprint1 and sold them to publishers in ,osaka and ,nagoya1 by whom poor and cheap editions were issued4 ,eiraku-ya of ,nagoya1 in particular1 is said to have bought many old blocks1 some of which were revamped in various ways before being reprinted4 ,,harunobu4 ,the ,sleeping ,elder ,sister4 ,,harunobu4 ,the ,sleeping ,elder ,sister4 ,in a number of instances1 when blocks had worn out or had been accidentally destroyed in the fires by which ,yedo was ravaged1 the artists were called upon to make new drawings of the same subjects4 ,usually1 in such cases1 the second design differed very little from the first1 save in such details as the patterns upon the garments of the figures and the styles of hair arrangement1 which invariably reflected the current mode4 ,kiyonaga's 8,iris ,garden0 and his well-known triptych 8,ushiwaka ,serenading ,jorurihime0 are notable examples of this practice4 ,two designs of each of these were issued1 the intervals between the appearance of the first and second being1 in each instance1 about three or four years4 ,for the later editions of many of the prints designed by ,harunobu changes were made in the blocks1 and the number was sometimes increased and sometimes decreased4 ,after his death re-engravings of a number of his prints appear to have been made1 as well as forged works in imitation of his style to which his name was attached4 ,most of the prints were sold at the time of publication for a few sen4 ,the finer ones brought relatively higher prices1 and such prints as the great triptychs and still larger compositions by ,kiyonaga1 ,eishi1 ,toyokuni1 ,utamaro1 and other leading artists could never have been very cheap4 ,in general1 however1 the price was small and they were regarded as ephemeral things4 ,many were used to ornament the small screens that served to protect kitchen fires from the wind1 and in this use were inevitably soiled and browned by smoke4 ,others1 made into kakemono or mounted upon the sliding partitions of the houses1 perished in the fires by which ,japanese cities have been devastated2 or1 if in houses that chanced safely to run the gauntlet of fires1 typhoons1 cloudbursts1 and other mishaps1 their colours faded and their surfaces were rubbed until little more than dim outlines were left4 ,these lost prints include a very large proportion of those that were most beautiful1 and especially of those having inoffensive subjects4 ,fortunately1 though the upper classes did not consider the prints as works of art1 that did not prevent them from buying them for the entertainment they afforded4 ,the samurai1 though they considered it degrading to take part in the amusements of the lower classes and affected to despise the vulgarity of the theatre1 sometimes attended the performances in disguise4 ,and when they returned to their home provinces with their feudal lords after the six months of every year spent in the capital1 they usually carried with them large quantities of prints4 ,country people visiting ,yedo rarely returned without taking many of these cheap souvenirs of the city to distribute among their neighbours4 ,of course many were destroyed1 but the ,japanese have always been accustomed to take care of their possessions1 and so many thousands of prints were neatly packed away in boxes and placed in the kuras1 or fireproof storehouses4 ,there they were often spoiled by mildew1 the dread foe of the ,japanese housewife1 and eaten by insects4 ,those pasted in albums1 as were many of the noted series by ,hokusai and ,hiroshige1 fared better than the loose ones4 ,,harunobu4 ,woman reading ,letter4 ,,harunobu4 ,woman reading ,letter4 ,thus it has come about that in spite of the enormous number printed1 really choice specimens are very rare4 ,of many of the most important only two or three copies in good condition are known4 ,even at the time of their issue the number of those in what may be called the 8proof0 state could not have been large4 ,the best printing1 as has already been pointed out1 was not only difficult and relatively expensive--perhaps prohibitively expensive in many instances except for a small number of impressions--but when the blocks had worn so that the edges of the finest lines had lost their sharpness1 it was quite impossible4 ,collections of prints were rarely made4 ,literary men often saved such as were inscribed with odes of especial merit1 or had recondite meanings that appealed to them1 and to their care we are indebted for the preservation of the majority of those that have survived in perfect or nearly perfect condition4 ,for those who have learned the elements of their language the charm of the prints is very great4 ,i should perhaps say the charm of some of the prints is very great2 for1 as we learn what we ought to admire1 we learn to discriminate1 at first between the works of the different artists1 then between different works by the same artist1 and finally between different copies of the same work4 ,the truth is that the prints are only in a remote sense to be spoken of as reproductions4 ,each impression is more or less an individual work of art2 the difference in quality between one and another is often astonishingly wide4 ,in conclusion it may be well to specify briefly some of the qualities in the prints that appeal to people of taste4 ,in the first place1 there is the compelling charm of colour4 ,equally notable are excellence of composition1 grace1 beauty1 and sweep of line1 distinctive character1 daringness of conception1 and perfect balance of both line and mass4 ,collectively the prints furnish the clearest exemplification of the basic principles of design that the world has to offer4 ,nowhere else can we find so much accomplished with simple means4 ,technically1 also1 they fulfil every requirement4 ,considered merely as wood-engravings1 they are of the first order of excellence4 ,though the drawing is seldom scientifically accurate1 it is1 nevertheless1 of exquisite refinement and subtlety4 ,in short1 the best prints are creative works of very high order which amply justify our admiration because of their intrinsic merit4 ,,koryusai4 ,musume leaping from ,temple ,balcony4 ,,koryusai4 ,musume leaping from ,temple ,balcony4 ,,catalogue ,,of ,a ,,loan ,,collection ,,of ,,japanese ,,colour-,,prints ,,the ,,japan ,,society ,,of ,,new ,,york ,,fifth ,,avenue ,,building4 ,,april #ai ,,to ,,may #ai1 #aiaa ,,introduction ,the leading masters of the ,ukiyo school were a group of very great artists4 ,the names of ,kiyonaga1 ,harunobu1 ,okumura ,masanobu1 ,utamaro1 ,hokusai1 and ,hiroshige belong in the category of those whose fame is world-wide4 ,,shunsho4 ,woman in ,red4 ,,shunsho4 ,woman in ,red4 ,the finest of the colour-prints designed by these men and their fellow-artists are masterpieces of rare distinction4 ,this does not mean that all of their works should be so classed4 ,the method by which the prints were produced enabled the artists to turn them out rapidly1 and many were made that were trivial in character4 ,they served almost as many purposes in their time as engravings1 etchings1 lithographs1 and the photographic process reproductions do with us to-day4 ,naturally they varied widely in merit and in quality4 ,many have been preserved1 but the important prints by the greater artists are unfortunately very rare2 few of them have survived the vicissitudes of time1 and fewer still in good condition4 ,the inception of the ,ukiyo school dates back to the early years of the seventeenth century1 when a painter named ,iwasa ,matahei1 departing from the traditional subjects of the painters of the classic schools1 made pictures of dancing-girls and scenes of every-day life4 ,the first prints were made about #affj by ,hishikawa ,moronobu and were in simple black outline4 ,they were sometimes coloured by hand with a few touches of colour roughly laid on1 probably by the publisher's assistants4 ,in the early years of the seventeenth century a style of colouring known as tan-y 7from the predominant use of a red-lead pigment known as tan7 came into vogue4 ,a little later prints were sold with more elaborate hand-colouring4 ,lacquer was mixed with the pigments to give them brilliancy1 and the prints were known as urushi-y1 or lacquer prints4 ,in or about the year #agdb ,okumura ,masanobu began to make the first true colour-prints4 ,for these he used only two colours1 green and a soft red called beni1 and the prints were known as beni-y4 ,for some years difficulties connected with the printing prevented the use of more than two colour-blocks1 and not until #agfd was a method discovered which made it possible to use as many blocks as might be required4 ,suzuki ,harunobu was the first artist to take advantage of the discovery4 ,the prints designed by him during the next six years are among the finest works of the school4 ,under his guidance and that of ,katsukawa ,shunsho1 the art of colour-printing was brought to perfection4 ,then followed a period when many prints of precious quality were produced4 ,the culmination was reached during the seventeen hundred and eighties1 when ,torii ,kiyonaga turned out his marvellous single sheets1 diptychs1 and triptychs4 ,many splendid prints were designed in the next decade4 ,it was then that ,eishi made his delightful triptychs1 that ,sharaku stirred the people of ,yedo with his wonderful caricature portraits of popular actors1 and that ,utamaro gained wide fame by the products of his facile brush4 ,it was1 however1 a period of decadence1 and by the end of the century a considerable distance had been travelled upon the downward path4 ,the prints made in the nineteenth century were1 for the most part1 coarse and gaudy1 the chief exceptions being those designed by ,hokusai and ,hiroshige4 ,these men1 though classed as of the ,ukiyo school1 in reality represent what may more properly be termed another 8movement0 growing out of1 but distinct from1 the ,ukiyo art that reached its apogee under ,kiyonaga4 ,while the present exhibition includes specimens of most of the different kinds of prints--some of them1 more especially the earlier ones1 of extreme rarity--historical completeness has not been attempted4 ,the aim has been rather to show such prints of exceptional quality and beauty as are available in ,new ,york4 ,,frederick ,w4 ,,gookin ,,catalogue ,,hishikawa ,,moronobu ,moronobu1 who was born probably in #afbe and died in #afie1 was the first important ,japanese artist to design prints4 ,as a painter he is highly renowned4 ,he illustrated many books and made a considerable number of single-sheet prints1 which were all either in plain black or coloured by hand4 ,his works are now very rare47#f7 ,,lent ,,by ,,the ,,estate ,,of ,,francis ,,lathrop1 ,,deceased #a ,large sumi-y 7ink print74 ,matsukaze-,murasame2 a nobleman and two ladies at the seashore watching two women dipping salt water in buckets4 #b ,sumi-y4 ,a man and a woman seated on the floor of a room4 #c ,sumi-y4 ,woman reading from a book to a man reclining on the floor by her side4 ,near them a maid-servant and utensils containing refreshments4 ,,lent ,,by ,a ,,collector #d ,sumi-y4 ,scene in the ,yoshiwara4 ,,torii ,,kiyonobu ,founder of the ,torii line and one of the leading artists of the ,ukiyo school4 ,inventor of the tan-y1 or prints coloured by hand with red lead 7,japanese tan74 ,he was born in #affd and died on ,august #bb1 #agbi4 ,his style of drawing was characterized by great boldness and vigour4 ,,lent ,,by ,,the ,,estate ,,of ,,francis ,,lathrop1 ,,deceased #e ,large tan-y4 ,the actor ,dekijima ,hanya as a woman seated upon a sakura tree in bloom4 #f ,small tan-y4 ,the actor ,ikushima ,daikichi as a woman holding two small dogs4 #g ,small tan-y4 ,the actor ,kamimura ,kichisaburo as a dancing-girl4 #h ,large hand-coloured print4 ,the actor ,ikushima ,daikichi as an oiran on parade1 followed by ,otani ,hiroji as a servant holding an umbrella over her4 #i ,tall hand-coloured print4 ,the actor ,bando ,hikosaburo4 ,,lent ,,by ,,samuel ,,isham4 #aj ,urushi-y4 ,ichikawa ,monnosuke as a strolling player carrying a monkey on his back4 ,,lent ,,by ,,howard ,,mansfield4 #aa ,urushi-y4 ,the elopement of ,yaoya ,hanbei and ,o-,chiya4 ,,lent ,,by ,a ,,collector4 #ab ,urushi-y4 ,a dancing-girl4 ,,torii ,,kiyomasu ,eldest son of ,kiyonobu1 whom he succeeded as the head of the ,torii line4 ,his work closely resembles that of his father4 ,he was born about #afhe and died on ,january #b1 #agfd4 ,,lent ,,by ,,the ,,estate ,,of ,,francis ,,lathrop1 ,,deceased4 ,,kiyonaga4 ,holiday ,group at ,gotenyama4 ,,kiyonaga4 ,holiday ,group at ,gotenyama4 #ac ,large sumi-y4 ,an actors' boating party on the ,sumidagawa4 #ad ,large tan-y4 ,the actors ,yoshizawa ,ayame and ,kanto ,koroku4 #ae ,large tan-y4 ,the actors ,kanto ,koroku and ,ikushima ,daikichi4 #af ,large beni-y4 ,ichikawa ,danjuro as an enraged warrior4 #ag ,beni-y4 ,onoe ,kikugoro in a female rle4 #ah ,beni-y4 ,scene from a drama4 ,the actors ,tomazawa ,saijiro 7on horseback71 ,otani ,hiroji1 and ,segawa ,kikunojo4 ,the beni has turned to a low-toned yellow4 #ai ,urushi-y4 ,scene from a drama4 ,otani ,oniji 7on horseback7 threatening ,sannogawa ,ichimatsu in the rle of a woman who has seized his bridle rein4 #bj ,beni-y4 ,scene from a drama4 ,sawamura ,sojuro as ,sasaki no ,saburo and ,nakamura ,tomijuro as ,mago no ,koroku4 ,,furuyama ,,moromasa ,pupil1 and perhaps the son1 of ,moronobu4 ,he devoted himself chiefly to painting1 but designed a few prints1 most of which are ukiy1 or perspective pictures1 in the style of ,okumura ,masanobu4 ,,lent ,,by ,,the ,,estate ,,of ,,francis ,,lathrop1 ,,deceased #ba ,large hand-coloured ukiy1 or perspective print4 ,a game of ken in a room in a nobleman's house4 ,,okumura ,,masanobu ,one of the most eminent of the ,ukiyo artists4 ,his drawings were greatly admired for their rare combination of force and refinement1 and he exercised wide influence over his contemporaries and successors to the end of the eighteenth century4 ,he was the first artist to use blocks from which prints were coloured in flat tints4 ,these were printed in the red known as beni1 green1 and black1 and were known as beni-y4 ,he was also the first artist to make the tall1 narrow pillar prints 7ha-shira-y71 and was the inventor of the perspective prints which he called ukiy4 ,his true name was ,okumura ,genpachi1 and he was commonly known as honya 7bookseller7 ,genpachi1 from the fact that he was the proprietor of a wholesale and retail book and print shop at the sign of the 8red gourd0 in ,tori-shio cho1 ,yedo4 ,,lent ,,by ,,the ,,estate ,,of ,,francis ,,lathrop1 ,,deceased #bb ,large sumi-y4 ,woman seated by a writing-table1 reading a book4 #bc ,urushi-y4 ,bando ,hikosaburo as a warrior resisting the opening of a castle door4 #bd ,tall beni-y4 ,a geisha playing upon a samisen4 #be ,large sumi-y4 ,a woman with a pet cat watching a man dip water from a chozubachi4 ,,lent ,,by ,a ,,collector #bf ,large beni-y4 ,segawa ,kikunojo as an oiran lighting her pipe at a hibachi in the hands of her kamuro1 and ,sannogawa ,ichimatsu as a man holding an umbrella over her4 #bg ,undivided beni-y triptych4 ,street scene4 ,a boy kneeling to put on a woman's geta2 a man playing upon a shakuhachi2 and another man carrying an umbrella4 #bh ,undivided triptych4 ,three women carrying umbrellas4 ,,okumura ,,toshinobu ,toshinobu1 the son of ,masanobu1 was an artist of decided talent who died young4 ,his known works1 which resemble those of his father1 are all urushi-y1 and were designed about #agcj-agcf4 ,,lent ,,by ,a ,,collector #bi ,ichimura ,uzaemon as a dancing-girl4 #cj ,woman dressing4 #ca ,sanjo ,kentaro in a female rle4 ,,tsunekawa ,,shigenobu ,an early ,ukiyo artist of whom little is known4 ,his prints are extremely rare4 ,,lent ,,by ,a ,,collector #cb ,urushi-y4 ,arashi ,wakano in the rle of ,shida no ,kotaro4 ,,nishimura ,,shigenaga ,son of ,shigenobu4 ,born in #afig and died in #agef4 ,an artist of ability who exercised marked influence upon the development of the school4 ,his prints are very uneven in quality4 ,,lent ,,by ,,the ,,estate ,,of ,,francis ,,lathrop1 ,,deceased #cc ,tall hand-coloured print4 ,the actor ,sannogawa ,ichimatsu as a woman holding a folded letter4 ,,lent ,,by ,a ,,collector #cd ,urushi-y4 ,segawa ,kikunojo as a woman holding a warrior's helmet4 #ce ,beni-y4 ,procession of the ,corean ambassadors4 ,,ishikawa ,,toyonobu ,one of the most important of the ,ukiyo masters4 ,born in #agaa1 died in #aghe4 ,pupil of ,shigenaga1 and probably of ,masanobu whose style he closely assimilated4 ,,lent ,,by ,,the ,,estate ,,of ,,francis ,,lathrop1 ,,deceased #cf ,large beni-y4 ,the actors ,segawa ,kikunojo and ,sannogawa ,ichimatsu4 ,,lent ,,by ,,samuel ,,isham4 #cg ,wide print from three colour-blocks4 ,women and children at the seashore4 ,,lent ,,by ,a ,,collector4 #ch ,tall hand-coloured print4 ,segawa ,kikunojo as a woman reading a letter4 #ci ,two sheets from a beni-y triptych4 ,musume carrying umbrellas4 ,,lent ,,by ,,hamilton ,,easter ,,field4 #dj ,beni-y4 ,mother and son4 #da ,print from three colour-blocks4 ,boys rolling a large snowball4 #db ,print from three colour-blocks4 ,man struggling with a refractory umbrella2 a woman looking on4 ,,torii ,,kiyohiro ,,kiyonaga4 ,picnic ,party4 ,,kiyonaga4 ,picnic ,party4 ,pupil of ,kiyomasu4 ,his known works are exclusively beni-y1 executed from about #agde to about #agee4 ,,lent ,,by ,,hamilton ,,easter ,,field4 #dc ,beni-y4 ,nakamura ,hatsugoro as ,sakura no ,suk4 ,,torii ,,shiro ,known as ,kiyonobu the second1 all of his prints being signed ,torii ,kiyonobu4 ,he was the eldest son of ,kiyomasu4 ,worked from about #agdj to about #agee1 when it is probable that his death occurred4 ,some of the most charming of the beni-y prints are from his hand4 ,,lent ,,by ,,howard ,,mansfield4 #dd ,beni-y4 ,yamamoto ,iwanojo as a woman dancing by a fox-trap in a rice field under a blossoming cherry tree4 ,,torii ,,kiyomitsu ,second son of ,kiyomasu1 whom he succeeded as the head of the ,torii line4 ,an artist of distinction4 ,was the first to add a third colour-block to the original two4 ,he was born in #agce and died in #aghe4 ,after #agfe he designed only a few prints1 and appears to have designed none later than about #agfh4 ,,lent ,,by ,,the ,,estate ,,of ,,francis ,,lathrop1 ,,deceased #de ,wide print from three colour-blocks4 ,the ,no performance of 8,musume ,dojoji40 #df ,wide print from three colour-blocks4 ,daimyo procession game by women and children4 #dg ,print from three colour-blocks4 ,iwai ,hanshiro as a woman reading a letter while seated upon a carabao4 #dh ,beni-y4 ,scene from a drama4 ,ichimura ,kamezo 7standing7 as ,wakemi ,goro and ,nakamura ,tomijuro as ,akoya4 ,,suzuki ,,harunobu ,the central figure in ,ukiyo and the eminent master under whose hand the art of colour-printing was brought to perfection in the sixties of the eighteenth century4 ,he was a draughtsman of extreme elegance and power1 and his works have a charm that is peculiarly their own4 ,he died on ,july #g1 #aggj1 when1 says ,shiba ,kokan in his book 8,kokan ,kokai-ki10 he 8had hardly passed his fortieth year40 ,,lent ,,by ,,samual ,,isham4 #di ,girl attendant in an archery gallery gathering up arrows4 ,one sheet of a diptych4 #ej ,a young woman showing a caged bird to a young man seated before her1 and surreptitiously taking a love letter from him4 #ea ,a vendor of fan mounts stopping to talk to a young woman standing in front of a shop4 #eb ,hashira-y4 ,woman writing a love letter4 #ec ,hashira-y4 ,woman holding a pet dog4 #ed ,burlesque scene4 ,girls carrying ,daikoku 7the genius of wealth--one of the 8,seven ,fortune-beings074 ,,lent ,,by ,,howard ,,mansfield4 #ee ,girls carrying ,daikoku4 ,a later impression with different colouring4 #ef ,an archer and two girls near a screen4 ,calendar for #agfe4 #eg ,young woman before a torii1 carrying a hammer and nails with which to perform an incantation4 #eh ,two young women on their way to the public bath-house through a storm of snow and rain4 #ei ,two girls on a terrace near a torii1 in the time of the cherry-blossoming4 #fj ,two girls gathering mume flowers from a tree overhanging a wall4 #fa ,woman reading a letter by the light of an andon 7portable lamp with wind screen7 which another woman is trimming4 #fb ,geisha and a young girl standing on the bank near the rapids of the ,tamagawa4 #fc ,young woman seated in a window1 conversing with another young woman seated on the floor and holding a picture-book4 #fd ,young man removing snow from the geta of a young woman4 #fe ,woman lying upon the floor of a room1 reading a book1 and another woman standing beside her1 holding a pipe4 #ff ,young woman seated on a veranda after her bath1 having her back massaged by her maid4 #fg ,young man talking to a girl through the bars of a window4 #fh ,a burlesque apparition of ,fugen4 ,instead of the ,buddhist divinity1 a young woman seated on an elephant appears on a cloud before a priest kneeling in prayer4 #fi ,lovers walking in the snow under an umbrella4 ,one of ,harunobu's most distinguished prints4 ,,lent ,,by ,,the ,,estate ,,of ,,francis ,,lathrop1 ,,deceased4 #gj ,the ,sleeping ,elder ,sister4 ,first state4 ,early impression signed by the printer1 ,kyosen4 ,,lent ,,by ,,hamilton ,,easter ,,field4 #ga ,the ,sleeping ,elder ,sister4 ,second state4 ,changes made in the blocks and colouring4 ,,lent ,,by ,a ,,collector4 #gb ,the ,sleeping ,elder ,sister4 ,still later impression4 ,colouring changed again1 and the number of blocks increased from ten to thirteen4 ,,lent ,,by ,,hamilton ,,easter ,,field4 #gc ,the ,hole in the ,wall4 #gd ,mother holding her infant son4 #ge ,at the entrance gate4 #gf ,mother taking her infant son from another woman and handing her a letter4 #gg ,lovers in a palace4 ,,lent ,,by ,a ,,collector4 #gh ,musume walking up a flight of steps leading to a temple4 #gi ,lovers playing battledore and shuttlecock2 the young man climbing a ladder to disengage the shuttlecock caught upon the branch of a mume tree4 #hj ,hashira-y4 ,woman in night attire standing by her bedside reading a letter4 ,,shiba ,,kokan ,an artist who is best known as a clever imitator of his master1 ,harunobu1 whose signature he forged upon a number of prints4 ,he also used the 8go10 or studio name1 ,harushige in signing prints in the ,harunobu manner4 ,in later years he painted pictures in semi-,european style1 and made copper-plate engravings which were coloured by hand4 ,he was born in #agdg and died in #ahah4 ,,lent ,,by ,,samuel ,,isham4 #ha ,the courtyard of a house in the ,yoshiwara4 ,a woman reading a letter and a girl attendant standing beside her holding a tray4 ,signed ,harunobu4 ,,shoshoken ,this is the pseudonym of an artist of distinction whose identity has not been determined4 ,his known works are calendar prints for #agfe4 ,,lent ,,by ,,samuel ,,isham4 #hb ,stout lady crossing a room in a palace supported by two attendants4 ,the use of gold leaf is notable4 ,,kitao ,,shigemasa ,one of the noted artists of the school4 ,was famous for his skill as a calligrapher1 being reputed to have no superior in his day in either of the 8three capitals10 ,yedo1 ,kyoto1 or ,osaka4 ,his prints1 which are rare1 are generally of much distinction4 ,he was born in #agdj1 and died in the second month of ,bunsei #c 7,february or ,march1 #ahbj74 ,,lent ,,by ,,howard ,,mansfield4 #hc ,children's puppet show4 ,,lent ,,by ,,the ,,estate ,,of ,,francis ,,lathrop1 ,,deceased4 #hd ,beni-y4 ,segawa ,kikunojo and ,ichimura ,uzaemon as ,izumo no ,okuni and ,nagoya ,sanza1 two komuso1 playing upon shaku-hachi4 ,,lent ,,by ,a ,,collector4 #he ,two geishas4 ,,isoda ,,koryusai ,the most important pupil of ,harunobu1 whose style he followed closely in his early works4 ,later he developed a manner of his own4 ,as a designer of pillar prints and of prints of birds1 he was especially successful4 ,he was a samurai and associated with samurai of the superior class4 ,the director of the mint was one of his most intimate friends and patrons4 ,about #agha he gave up print-designing1 devoted himself to painting1 and was given the honorary title of ,hokyo4 ,the dates of his birth and death are not known4 ,,lent ,,by ,,samuel ,,isham4 #hf ,hashira-y4 ,musume leaping from the balcony of ,kiyomidzu temple with an umbrella as a parachute4 #hg ,woman standing on the engawa of a house1 admiring snow-laden bamboo branches2 back of her1 a girl and a young boy looking through a window4 #hh ,a ,yoshiwara beauty arranging flowers2 two girl attendants looking on4 ,,lent ,,by ,a ,,collector4 #hi ,hashira-y4 ,musume carrying her infant brother4 #ij ,hashira-y4 ,young woman poling a boat in a lily-pond4 ,,lent ,,by ,,the ,,estate ,,of ,,francis ,,lathrop1 ,,deceased4 #ia ,a ,yoshiwara beauty on parade1 attended by a girl and a boy4 #ib ,hashira-y4 ,the bijin ,jurojin4 ,a young woman is represented in place of the long-life being whose attributes are a crane and a tortoise4 ,,katsukawa ,,shunsho ,a contemporary of ,harunobu and one of the greatest of the ,ukiyo artists4 ,he was highly renowned in his day and had many pupils who became famous4 ,most of his prints were portraits of actors in character4 ,he was born in #agbf and died on ,january #bb1 #agic4 ,,lent ,,by ,,the ,,estate ,,of ,,francis ,,lathrop1 ,,deceased4 #ic ,segawa ,kikunojo as a woman holding a red fan4 #id ,two actors in character4 ,the seated figure is ,danjuro1 the leading 8star0 of the ,yedo stage4 ,,lent ,,by ,,samuel ,,isham4 #ie ,actor in a female rle4 ,,lent ,,by ,,howard ,,mansfield4 #if ,iwai ,hanshiro as a woman standing and holding a fan behind her4 #ig ,yamashita ,kinsaku in a female rle4 #ih ,actor of the ,ichikawa line in the rle of ,shibaraku at the ,ichimura theatre4 #ii ,otani ,hiroji as an ,amazake vendor4 #ajj ,hashira-y4 ,nobleman carrying a court lady on his back4 ,probably a parody upon the suicide of ,ohan and ,choyaemon4 #aja ,wide hashira-y4 ,the ,woman in ,red4 ,,ippitsusai ,,buncho ,an artist of samurai rank who1 for a few years1 designed actor prints in the manner of ,shunsho1 which have great distinction of style and colour4 ,he was celebrated also as a writer of comic odes4 ,he died on ,may #ah1 #agif4 ,,lent ,,by ,,the ,,estate ,,of ,,francis ,,lathrop1 ,,deceased4 ,,buncho4 ,actor as ,woman talking to ,men4 ,,buncho4 ,actor as ,woman talking to ,men4 #ajb ,bando ,hikosaburo as a woman of the ,yoshiwara talking to a group of men through the mis4 #ajc ,nakamura ,tomijuro as ,josan no ,miya4 ,,kiyonaga4 ,man and two ,women approaching ,temple4 ,,kiyonaga4 ,man and two ,women approaching ,temple4 ,,lent ,,by ,,samuel ,,isham4 #ajd ,a ,yoshiwara beauty accompanied by her kamuro 7girl attendant7 bearing a cage of fireflies4 ,,lent ,,by ,,howard ,,mansfield4 #aje ,ichikawa ,korazo as a man carrying an actor's dressing-case4 ,,lent ,,by ,,hamilton ,,easter ,,field4 #ajf ,scene from a drama4 ,yamashita ,kinsaku as a woman holding a roll of paper1 conversing with ,ichikawa ,komazo1 who holds a letter in his hand4 ,,katsukawa ,,shunko ,pupil of ,shunsho and generally regarded as his most talented follower4 ,his career as a print-designer was cut short by a stroke of paralysis when he was in his forty-fifth or forty-sixth year1 but he lived for about forty years thereafter as a recluse at ,zenfukuji temple1 ,azabu1 ,yedo1 where he died in #ahbg4 ,,lent ,,by ,,samuel ,,isham4 #ajg ,iwai ,hanshiro in a female rle4 #ajh ,the actor ,ichikawa ,monnosuke4 #aji ,nakamura ,tomijuro as a tsuzumi player4 ,,lent ,,by ,,howard ,,mansfield4 #aaj ,arashi ,tatsuzo as a woman flower-vendor4 ,,katsukawa ,,shunyei ,pupil of ,shunsho and an artist of ability4 ,at first1 for a short time1 he called himself ,shunjo4 ,he was born in #agfg1 and died on ,december #ac1 #ahai4 ,,lent ,,by ,,the ,,estate ,,of ,,francis ,,lathrop1 ,,deceased4 #aaa ,a bijin4 ,,lent ,,by ,,howard ,,mansfield4 #aab ,ichikawa ,monnosuke in a female rle4 ,,lent ,,by ,,samuel ,,isham4 #aac ,scene from the tenth act of 8,chushingura40 #aad ,ichikawa ,komazo4 ,,utagawa ,,toyoharu ,pupil of ,toyonobu4 ,as a painter his reputation is justly high4 ,he did not design many prints4 ,he was born in #agce and died on ,march #c1 #ahad4 ,,lent ,,by ,,the ,,estate ,,of ,,francis ,,lathrop1 ,,deceased4 #aad ,cock1 hen and chickens4 ,,torii ,,kiyonaga ,everything considered1 the greatest artist of the ,ukiyo school and the culminating figure in its forward movement4 ,he was born in #agdb and died in #ahae4 ,his finest prints were designed between #aghj and #agij4 ,,lent ,,by ,,samuel ,,isham4 #aaf ,the ,writing-lesson4 #aag ,fair travellers resting on a bench by the roadside4 ,,lent ,,by ,,the ,,estate ,,of ,,francis ,,lathrop1 ,,deceased4 #aah ,two geishas entertaining a young man4 #aai ,court ladies on the engawa of a palace4 ,,lent ,,by ,,howard ,,mansfield4 #abj ,three girls going to the baths at the hot springs near ,miyanoshita4 #aba ,man and two women masquerading in komuso attire4 #abb ,group of three women and a boy4 #abc ,two women standing beside a seated geisha who is playing on a samisen4 #abd ,yoshiwara beauty attended by two women 7shinzo7 and two girls 7kamuro74 #abe ,two young women and a servant on the balcony of an inn4 #abf ,family group on their way to a temple for the naming ceremony of the boy who is carried on the shoulders of an attendant4 #abg ,an actor and two women examining utensils for the tea ceremony4 #abh ,women and children promenading in summer costume4 #abi ,scene from a drama4 ,two actors playing the game of 8go0 with mume blossoms1 and a third actor as a woman in the rle of an umpire standing between them4 #acj ,two young women walking under an umbrella and followed by a servant4 #aca ,man in a black haori approaching a temple through the snow1 accompanied by two women4 #acb ,diptych4 ,group of women under a cherry tree4 #acc ,diptych4 ,holiday group under the cherry trees at ,gotenyama4 ,one of a series of twelve diptychs that are among ,kiyonaga's finest works4 #acd ,boating party under ,ryogoku bridge4 ,two sheets of a triptych4 #ace ,triptych4 ,the ,peony 7botan7 ,show4 #acf ,triptych4 ,women landing from a pleasure boat4 ,,lent ,,by ,a ,,collector4 #acg ,hashira-y4 ,woman in winter costume4 #ach ,triptych4 ,a picnic party under the cherry trees4 #aci ,group of women on the bank of the ,sumida river4 #adj ,group of women near a temple4 #ada ,three women at a public bath-house4 ,,katsukawa ,,shuncho ,pupil of ,shunsho4 ,followed the style of ,torii ,kiyonaga4 ,his works closely resemble those of the ,torii master1 but have less force4 ,worked from about #agge to about #agie4 ,in some of his later prints he imitated ,eishi's prints in the ,utamaro manner4 ,the dates of his birth and death are not known4 ,,lent ,,by ,,samual ,,isham4 #adb ,one sheet of a triptych showing a nobleman's mansion from the garden1 with the people engaged in various occupations4 ,,lent ,,by ,,howard ,,mansfield4 #adc ,women watching girls bouncing balls4 #add ,diptych4 ,group at the entrance to a temple4 #ade ,three women in a temple compound4 ,,shuncho4 ,women watching ,girls bouncing ,balls4 ,,shuncho4 ,women watching ,girls bouncing ,balls4 ,,lent ,,by ,,hamilton ,,easter ,,field4 #adf ,group of girls at a tea booth by the seashore4 ,,lent ,,by ,a ,,collector4 #adg ,a picnic party4 ,two sheets of a triptych4 #adh ,women picking wild flowers under a cherry tree in bloom4 ,,hosoda ,,eishi ,one of the foremost artists of the school4 ,he was a samurai of high rank1 and a pupil of ,kano ,eisen4 ,for three years before he took to ,ukiyo he held an official post in the household of the shogun ,iyeharu4 ,eishi was a master of all the resources of the art of colour-printing and his prints are characterized by great elegance and refinement4 ,he worked from about #aghb to #ahjj1 when he gave up print-designing4 ,he died in #ahbi4 ,,lent ,,by ,,samual ,,isham4 #adi ,triptych4 ,eight women and a man playing the game of 8,catch the fox40 #aej ,group of ,yoshiwara women and attendants4 #aea ,someyama and her kamuro playing with a pet dog4 #aeb ,yoshiwara women admiring a branch of mume tree with unopened flower buds4 #aec ,triptych4 ,fte in a nobleman's palace4 ,ladies composing poems4 ,,eishi4 ,fte in a nobleman's palace4 ,,eishi4 ,fte in a nobleman's palace4 ,,lent ,,by ,,mrs4 ,,william ,,benjamin ,,wood4 #aed ,another copy of the foregoing triptych4 ,shows how beautifully the purple changes by chemical decomposition4 ,,lent ,,by ,,howard ,,mansfield4 #aee ,oiran and attendants on parade4 ,,lent ,,by ,a ,,collector4 #aef ,a ,yoshiwara beauty4 ,ink proof of the key block4 #aeg ,two women entering a room in the palace of ,prince ,genji1 where a young girl is seated playing with a kitten4 ,,yeishosai ,,choki ,an artist of ability1 though not quite of the first rank4 ,his prints are rare4 ,he worked at first in the style of ,kiyonaga4 ,later he imitated ,utamaro1 and changed his 8go10 or studio name1 to ,momokawa ,shiko4 ,,lent ,,by ,a ,,collector4 #aeh ,woman and child catching fireflies4 ,,toshusai ,,sharaku ,this artist was by profession a performer of the stately and aristocratic ,no dramas in the service of ,hachisuka1 ,daimyo of ,awa4 ,during the period from about #agij to #agie he designed a small number of caricature portraits of actors1 which have great force and distinguished character4 ,,lent ,,by ,,yamanaka ,,company4 #aei ,the actor7#g7 ,tanimura ,torazo in the rle of ,kakogawa ,honzo4 #afj ,ichikawa ,ebizo in the rle of ,ko no ,moronao4 ,this print bears an inscription1 probably contemporary1 giving the date #agid4 #afa ,onoe ,matsusuke as one of the ,loyal ,ronin4 #afb ,rando ,hikosaburo in the rle of ,yuranosuke4 #afc ,iwai ,hanshiro in the rle of ,oishi1 wife of ,yuranosuke4 #afd ,ichikawa ,monnosuke as one of the ,loyal ,ronin4 #afe ,morita ,kanya as one of the ,loyal ,ronin4 #aff ,segawa ,tominojo in the rle of ,kaoyo ,gozen1 wife of ,yenya4 #afg ,sawamura ,sojuro in the rle of ,yenya ,hanguwan4 #afh ,arashi ,tatsuzo in the rle of ,yoichibei4 #afi ,sakata ,hangoro as ,ten-ichi-bo ,hotaku4 #agj ,segawa ,tominojo and ,nakamura ,manjuro in female rles4 #aga ,nakajima ,utaemon and ,nakamura ,konozo4 #agb ,ichikawa ,omezo in the rle of ,sukeroku4 #agc ,matsumoto ,koshiro in the rle of the otokadat ,banzuin ,chobei4 ,this print is commonly known as 8,the man with the pipe40 #agd ,matsumoto ,yonesaburo in the rle of ,okaru1 wife of ,kampei4 #age ,ichikawa ,yaozo in the rle of ,hayano ,kampei4 #agf ,kosagawa ,tsuneyo in the rle of ,tonas1 wife of ,kakogawa ,honzo4 #agg ,otani ,oniji in the rle of ,sadakuro4 #agh ,sannogawa ,ichimatsu in a female rle4 #agh;a ,nakayama ,tomisaburo in the rle of ,komurasaki1 and ,ichikawa ,komazo as her lover1 ,shirai ,gompachi1 walking with her under a huge umbrella4 ,,sharaku4 ,two ,actors4 ,,sharaku4 ,two ,actors4 ,,lent ,,by ,,the ,,estate ,,of ,,francis ,,lathrop1 ,,deceased4 #agi ,segawa ,tominojo4 ,,kitagawa ,,utamaro ,one of the most gifted and most widely known of the ,ukiyo masters4 ,extraordinarily facile and brilliant4 ,born in #agec and died in #ahjf4 ,,lent ,,by ,,samual ,,isham4 #ahj ,triptych4 ,imaginative view of a fte in a ,chinese palace4 ,it is a medley of ,chinese and ,japanese details intended as a take-off upon the treatment of ,chinese subjects by the painters of the classic schools4 #aha ,the hour of the ,boar 7#i to #ab ,p4,m474 ,one of a set illustrating the twelve hours into which the ,japanese day is divided4 #ahb ,diptych4 ,women in a nobleman's palace1 painting kakemono4 #ahc ,yoshiwara beauties on parade4 #ahc;a ,a sheet from the 8,washing day0 triptych4 #ahd ,woman helping a man attire himself in ceremonial dress4 #ahe ,woman bending over to see a baby which another woman is nursing while seated before a mirror1 arranging her hair4 #ahf ,woman talking to a fan-mount vendor4 #ahg ,triptych4 ,the persimmon-gatherers4 #ahh ,triptych4 ,procession of a noble lady and women attendants on their way to a temple1 bearing offerings4 ,,lent ,,by ,,howard ,,mansfield4 #ahi ,triptych4 ,shadows on the shoji4 ,illustrations of three effects of sake 7rice wine74 #aij ,woman arranging flowers4 #aia ,the kitchen4 ,one sheet of a diptych4 #aib ,a night excursion4 ,one of ,utamaro's most famous prints4 ,,lent ,,by ,,hamilton ,,easter ,,field4 #aic ,hairdresser combing a girl's hair4 #aid ,woman with a young boy on her back1 watching three puppies at play4 ,,lent ,,by ,,the ,,estate ,,of ,,francis ,,lathrop1 ,,deceased #aie ,kitao ,masanobu drunk with sake at a fte in a daimyo's palace4 ,part of a triptych4 ,,lent ,,by ,a ,,collector #aif ,woman wearing a black zukin1 and a maid bearing a lantern4 #aig ,woman standing on a pier1 holding an umbrella1 and conversing with a man seated under the canopy of a boat4 #aih ,woman bearing a teacup on a lacquer stand4 #aii ,woman raising the mosquito netting over her bed to read a letter by the light of an andon4 #bjj ,three performers in a niwaka1 or burlesque theatrical procession1 in the streets of the ,yoshiwara4 #bja ,woman holding in her mouth a 8pokan-pokan0--a musical toy of thin glass which makes a peculiar sound when air is blown through it4 #bjb ,triptych4 ,boating party4 #bjc ,triptych4 ,the awab divers of ,is4 #bjd ,triptych4 ,women and children on a bridge4 ,,utamaro4 ,woman with a ,musical ,toy4 ,,utamaro4 ,woman with a ,musical ,toy4 ,,utagawa ,,toyokuni ,a brilliant artist of high repute in his day4 ,some of his prints1 especially the earlier ones1 are of distinguished quality4 ,he was born in #agfi and died on ,february #bd1 #ahbe4 ,,lent ,,by ,a ,,hamilton ,,easter ,,field4 #bje ,triptych4 ,street scene in the ,yoshiwara4 #bjf ,large head of an actor4 ,,lent ,,by ,,hamilton ,,easter ,,field4 #bjg ,the actor ,koraiya4 ,,lent ,,by ,,howard ,,mansfield4 #bjh ,musume raising a large umbrella4 #bji ,triptych4 ,women in a public bath-house4 ,,lent ,,by ,,the ,,estate ,,of ,,francis ,,lathrop1 ,,deceased #baj ,triptych4 ,the ,six ,tamagawa1 represented by six women washing strips of cloth in a rapid-flowing stream4 ,,lent ,,by ,a ,,collector #baa ,woman accompanied by a maid carrying a lantern4 #bab ,triptych4 ,lady emerging from a kago2 her attendants grouped about her4 ,,toyokuni4 ,women in ,bath ,house4 ,,toyokuni4 ,women in ,bath ,house4 ,,katsushika ,,hokusai ,a master of extraordinary versatility and power4 ,perhaps the most widely known of all the ,japanese artists4 ,he was born in #agfj and died in the spring of #ahdi4 #bac ,winter landscape4 #bad ,cranes on a snow-laden pine tree4 #bae ,iris4 #baf ,turtles swimming4 ,,lent ,,by ,,hamilton ,,easter ,,field4 #bag ,fuji san seen beneath a wave of the sea at ,kanazawa4 ,hokusai's famous 8wave40 ,,lent ,,by ,,howard ,,mansfield4 #bah ,view of ,fuji from ,ushibori2 a large boat moored in the foreground4 ,,hokusai4 ,fuji from ,ushibori4 ,,hokusai4 ,fuji from ,ushibori4 ,,lent ,,by ,a ,,collector #bai ,winter landscape4 ,,ando ,,hiroshige ,the last great artist of the ,ukiyo school1 and a consummate master of landscape art4 ,born in #agig and died on ,october #ab1 #aheh4 ,,lent ,,by ,,hamilton ,,easter ,,field4 #bbj ,a cold morning at ,shono1 on the ,tokaido4 #bba ,view of ,fuji san from ,goyo4 #bbb ,pine trees on the shore at ,hamamatsu4 #bbc ,flying kites at ,fukuroi4 #bbd ,the 8fox fires0 at ,oji4 #bbe ,kinryusan1 ,asakusa1 in snow4 #bbf ,the fields back of ,asakusa seen from a window through which a white cat is looking out4 #bbg ,travellers in snow at ,ishiyakushi4 ,,hiroshige4 ,pines at ,hammamatsu4 ,,hiroshige4 ,pines at ,hammamatsu4 ,,lent ,,by ,,albert ,,gallatin4 #bbh ,evening rain at ,azumasha4 ,,lent ,,by ,a ,,collector #bbi ,autumn moon over the river ,tama4 #bcj ,the evening glow at ,setta4 #bca ,the crowd in ,ni ,cho 7,second ,street7 at night4 ,at the right is the ,ichimura theatre1 upon which and upon the tea-house across the way are tall signs advertising plays and actors4 #bcb ,aowi and bird4 #bcc ,pheasant and young pine trees upon a steep hillside4 #bcd ,raftsman on the ,sumida river in a snow storm4 ,,lent ,,by ,,howard ,,mansfield4 #bce ,shower at ,shono4 #bcf ,gyotoku2 boats returning4