Tsukioka Yoshitoshi (月岡芳年) (artist 04/30/1839 – 06/09/1892)
7:00 AM (午前七時) from the series 24 Hours at Shinbashi and Yanagibashi (Shinryū nijūyoshi - 新柳二十四時)
11/24/1880
9.75 in x 14 in (Overall dimensions) Japanese woodblock print
Signed: ōju Yoshitoshi hitsu
應需芳年筆
Publishers: Morimoto Junzaburō (Marks 349) and Nakamura Mitsu (Marks 373)
Carver: Hori Yata (彫弥太)
Date: Meiji 13, 11th month, 24th day
明治十三年 十一月 廿四日
National Diet Library
Ritsumeikan University - in b & w This print represents a geisha praying by inscribed lanterns.
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In Beauty and Violence: Japanese Prints by Yoshitosh: 1839-1892 the author states about this series on page 60: "The subject matter of this series is very conventional prints of beautiful women were designed by numerous Japanese print artists and one can hardly say that Yoshitoshi is very original in his approach here.... Yoshitoshi's prints of beautiful women are understandably less highly-valued than those designed by Hosoda Eishi (1756-1829). Katsukawa Shuncho (act. c. 1780-1800) and Kitagawa Utamaro (1753-1806) a century earlier. But in this and in subsequent series, Yoshitoshi reflects the aesthetics of his age as much as his artistic forbears were representatives of their own time."
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Scholten Japanese Art wrote about this series:
"This series presented an hour by hour account of vingnettes [sic] from the everyday lives of women of a variety of ages and positions working in the chic geisha neighborhoods of Shinbashi and Yanagibashi in Tokyo. Published in 1880-1881 by Morimoto Junzaburo and Nakamura Mitsu, the illustrations were paired with gesaku-style prose full of slang, puns and metaphors written by the journalist Takabatake Ransen (1838-1885, signing as Tentendo) with his own calligraphy. Sometimes he would take the voice of the geisha, at other times his insights are presented from the perspective of an observer."
beautiful women (bijin-ga - 美人画) (genre)
Meiji era (明治時代: 1868-1912) (genre)
Nakamura Mitsu (中村美津) (publisher)
Hori Yata (彫弥太) (carver)