Description
Artist: Toyohara Kunichika (1835-1900) Title: Japanese & Chinese Medicines Shop, the Beauty Kaneko Kin & Fabric Pattern of Mitsu-kura Bridge Design Series: Tokyo jiman meibutsu awase 東京自慢名物会 (Pictures of Famous Attractions as Pride of Tokyo) Date: 1896 Descriptiom : Amazing example of an early modern advertisement, including what seems to be a diet medicine. It is interesting to note the addition of a beautiful woman as a marketing ploy to an advertisement that is more than 100 years old. At top we see Japanese & Chinese traditional medicines sold by the shop Choji-do, owned by Yamato Yoshikazu, located near the Mikura Bridge in Kanda. We see two medicine products; one is for slimming & one is for the treatment of gallstones. (Wachú-tan shúkó-san honpo of Yamato Yoshikazu...Mikura-hashi giwa, 1-1 Moto..., Kanda-ku). To the right is the Beauty Kaneko Kin of Shige-matsu of Shin-Nakamura-ya at Reigan-jima by Kunichika. Reigan-jima (present Chúó ward) is located at the mouth of the Sumida River, a location of many wholesale dealers of sake from the Kyoto area. Kin holds a ochoko sake cup. Lower left: Comparison to Dye Design: Mitsu-kura bridge design (mitate moyó: mitsu-kura hashi-zome) by Baiso Kaoru: we seestylized three rivers top & bottom; in between is the bridge with pattern of a window of a kura storehouse with a kanoko patterned net. The Mitsukura Bridge over the Kanda River originally had threee kura storehouses nearby. The series title is decorated with sakura-só primrose. The sensu folding fan below bears the name, Tsuruga Wakatatsu. As a tiny stamp in red indicates the writing on the fan was by Bira Tatsu, a graphic artist for yose advertisements & fliers. This graphic is called bira-ji, a writing style for bira, advertisements. The style was first created by Eijiró at a dye shop Konya around 1830s, using the writing style on lanterns & of Kabuki advertisement. Out of these graphics the workshops of bira kiyo & kira tatsu had developed to specialize in the advertisement of yose theaters (story tellers performances). Especially bira-tatsu showed good designs. Their purpose was to attract & to fill the yose theater, they tried to fill the space with designed characters & not to leave an empty space in their compositions. Beside they wrote the characters slightly diagonal, raising the right side of a character up, indicating with time that the audience would increase.( With thanks to Ms. Michiko Sato-Grube, who consulted Shuntei Unoka:yose moji tenarai-chó, Graphic-sha, 2020) Condition: Excellent impression & color. Very good condition. Album backing. Beautifully printed, with blindprinting in the white areas. Only print offered here Dimensions: Over all 14 x 9 inches Signatures: Chiaki, Toyohara Kunichika-hitsu, Baiso Kaoru-an (=designed) accordingly Publisher: Fukada Kumajiro Shipping : I take huge pride in packing since it is a delicate & important part . This print will come in an acid free backing board as well
