OsakaPrints.com (Sadahiro and Sadayoshi)

Background:

The landscape tradition as an independent genre was never firmly established in Kamigata printmaking as it had been in Edo; consequently, such designs are, on average, rarely encountered. Osaka artists were surely capable of producing effective landscape prints (fûkei-ga). We only have to examine the many yakusha-e (actor prints) that frequently included landscapes as backgrounds or minor motifs within their designs (typically representing stage backdrops, but nevertheless evoking naturalistic scenery). Despite the avoidance of fukei-ga as a main component in their oeuvre (no one has satisfactorily explained this, by the way, although the profitable Kamigata publishing hegemony in yakusha-e may have been an important factor), a few late-period Osaka artists designed fûkei-ga in a style influenced by Hiroshige. Among these were compositions based on Hiroshige's Meisho Edo hyakkei ("One hundred views of the famous places in Edo") or original designs not based directly on the Edo master's works, featuring scenic spots and famous scenes of Naniwa (Osaka) and Kyoto.

In the present instance, the subject is the ever-popular Tôkaidô ("Eastern sea road"). the main land route between Edo and Kyoto during the Edo period. It was made famous by, among other things, Hiroshige's series Tôkaidô gojûsan tsugi ("Fifty-three post stations of the Eastern Sea Road"), published circa 1833-34. It is said that the distance between sequential pairs of post stations along the route was established to accommodate a reasonable daylong walking pace so that travelers could be assured of food and shelter at the end of each day's journey.

Design:

These 56 miniature koban compositions were modeled after designs published in Edo ca. 1843-47 in a collaborative ôban-format series of 58 prints titled Tôkaidô gojûsan tsui ("Fifty-three comparisons with the Eastern Sea Road") by Utagawa Kuniyoshi I, Utagawa Hiroshige I, and Utagawa Kunisada I. However, there were modifications introduced into the later koban set. First, the numbering begins in Kyoto, not Edo, as befits a production originating from Kamigata. In addition, the first koban design (for Kyoto) is not the same as the corresponding (last) image in the Edo ôban series; the latter serves, in fact, as the prototype for the second koban image (here called Sanjôbashi, the Sanjô Bridge in Kyoto).

A comparison of two of the designs is shown below (obviously not to scale, as the ôban would be much larger than the koban). The pair on the left illustrate a fisher girl mending her net near Yui Station. The pair on the right represent Kuwana Station and show the apparition Umibôzu ("sea monk") emerging from a fierce storm to threaten the sailor Kawanaya Tokuzô, who calms Umibozô and the storm by satisfactorily answering a question posed by the spectre.

composite pic

In a collaborative effort, Sadahiro provided sketches for 29 of the images, Sadayoshi 27. Except for the beginning and end of the series, the artists produced alternate pairs of images (that is, nos. 3-4 by Sadayoshi, 5-6 by Sadahiro, and so on). The exceptions were nos. 1-2 (Sadayoshi and Sadahiro, respectively) and the final 4 (all Sadahiro).

The stations are identified by the large white characters in the cartouches. The order used below follows the margin numbering found on the sheets. Note that the numerical sequence is not consistent across sheets: (1) subsequent numbers may begin at either the top or bottom row; (2) numbers 47-48 run left to right, unlike all the other pairs, which run right to left within each row; and (3) the final sheet lacks margin numbering (stations 53-56).

Sheet 1 (stations 1-8): Kyoto, Sanjôbashi, Ôtsu, Kusatsu, Tsuchiyama, Sakanoshita, Ishibe, Minakuchi
Sheet 2 (stations 9-16): Seki, Shôno, Kameyama, Ishiyakushi, Yokkaichi, Kuwana, Miya, Narumi
Sheet 3 (stations 17-24): Chiryû, Okazaki, Fujikawa, Akasaka, Goyû, Yoshida, Futagawa, Shirasuka
Sheet 4 (stations 25-32): Hamamatsu, Mitsuke, Arai, Maisaka, Fukuroi, Kakegawa, Nissaka, Kanaya
Sheet 5 (stations 33-40): Shimada, Fujieda, Okabe, Mariko, Okitsu, Yui, Fuchû, Ejiri
Sheet 6 (stations 41-48): Hara, Numazu, Kanbara, Yoshiwara, Ôiso, Odawara, Mishima, Hakone
Sheet 7 (stations 49-56): Hiratsuka, Fujisawa, Totsuka, Hodogaya, Kanagawa Kawasaki, Shingawa, Nihonbashi [Edo]

Sadahiro's designs were originally published in Ansei (1854-59). Our set is an early Meiji edition (circa late 1860s - 1870s), as identified by the inscription on the dedication page, which reads, "In Meiji 15 [1882], I put this together from older pieces I had collected," and by the notation on the first image sheet, which says, "Originally Ansei; Meiji edition." The dedication page exhibits an excised portion that once indicated the name of the collector; neither that page nor the album enclosure were original to the publication.

Regardless of edition, it is a distinct rarity to find a complete set — especially on uncut sheets — preserved, as here, in such good condition.

References: Robinson, B.W. (Kuniyoshi: The Warrior Prints. Cornell/Phaidon, 1982, pp. 127-129) lists and briefly describes the designs from the original Edo set by Kuniyoshi, Hiroshige, and Kunisada.

Sadahiro I and Sadayoshi I