Lake Sai Sunset

This later edition print by Tsuchiya Koitsu shows Lake Sai at sunset, with Mount Fuji in the background. The print was first published in 1938, however this impression dates from 1956-1962. The original woodblocks would have been recut by the carver Harada.

The print is in the Shin-Hanga (new prints) style.

The print is in the Oban format - approximately 38cm wide by 26cm high, with additional margin space for the print title and seals of the publisher, carver, and printer.

This print has been allocated code TK-DH-49 in the Koitsu Raisonne database: http://www.koitsu.com/DB/ItemDetail.asp?item=9901

 
 

  • Harada Kamataro was listed as an active carver for Karaoke School when he was 58 years old, but it is not clear when hetook over the role of principal carver forDoi Hangmen.

  • According to research by Chihiro “Tosh” Doi (http://shinhanga.net/DAcarvers-printers.htm#Pyokoi) , Yokoi Giichi (or Yoshikazu) was born around 1894, and trained under Washimi Tokutaro in Nagoya. He moved to Tokyo in 1936,where he worked for Doi Teiichi, and based on his work in printing Koitsu prints, he was promoted to Doi’smain printer around 1940. He continued to work for Doi Hangmen until 1965, when he retired.

 
 
 

Seal Information

Publisher

The publisher of this print - Doi Publishing House - is identified by the ‘Doi Hangaten ’ seal that appears in the lower left hand margin of the print - this seal was used between approximately 1956 and 1962. The seal was validated using information from ‘The Doi Publishing House Seals’ from http://www.ukiyoe-gallery.com/doipage1.htm where both the publisher, carver, and printer can be matched to the Doi Hangaten seal.

Artist

The artist - Tsuchiya Koitsu - is believed to be identified by the signature ‘Koitsu’ and the red seal ‘Shin’ that appears in the bottom right hand corner of the print.

Carver

The carver Harada is identified by the left hand block of characters at the bottom left hand corner of the print outside the margin. The seal has been validated using information from ‘The Doi Publishing House Seals’ from http://www.ukiyoe-gallery.com/doipage1.htm.

To identify the carvers seal, look at the top character in the left hand block - the three lines on the right hand side of the character (‘horn’ - carver) represent the sharp knife strokes used by the carver (see http://shinhanga.net/doiseals.htm#carver-printer)

Printer

The printer - Yokoi - is identified by the right hand block of characters at the bottom left hand corner of the print outside the margin. The seal has been validated using information from ‘The Doi Publishing House Seals’ from http://www.ukiyoe-gallery.com/doipage1.htm

Title and Publication Date

The upper block of characters outside the right hand margin is the title of the print, and translates as “Lake Sai Sunset”.

The low block identifies the original publication date - and translates as ‘Shōwa 13, May’. Shōwa 13 is the 13th year of the Shōwa dynasty - 1938.