How to "Read" a Print
There is more than meets the eye with a
Japanese woodblock print. The subject matter, which includes
figures and landscapes, is just one aspect of what a Japanese
print is all about. Many times people overlook the part of the
print that will tell them the most. Every Japanese woodblock
print is marked with information that can tell us the most about
the print: in addition to the title, these include the marks
of the artist, the publisher, and the government.
The
most important - and the most difficult to decipher - of these
three kinds marks is arguably that of the artist. These
signatures prove to be very complex, but once decoded can
be extremely helpful in identifying much of the
history of the print. Artists would usually mark any print
that they designed with a signature of their artist or studio
name, and an artist could use many
different signatures throughout his career, each time signifying
a different stage in his life or a change in status in his
school of art. Katsushika Hokusai
(1760-1849), designer of the famous series Thirty-six Views
of Fuji, used over sixty different names during his career!  Another
such artist, one of particular interest in this exhibit, is Utagawa Kunisada
(1786-1864). Kunisada, also known as Toyokuni III, began his studies
at the turn of the nineteenth century under the tutelage of Utagawa Toyokuni
I (1769-1825),
of the Utagawa School. While he was undoubtedly Toyokuni’s most famous
student, upon Toyokuni’s death, he was not given the title of heir to the
school and Toyokuni’s name. That honor was given to another of Toyokuni’s
students, Toyokuni Gosotei (1777-1835), who married into the family. It was not
until 1844 that Kunisada began to use the name of Toyokuni on his prints. He
was officially Toyokuni III, but some of his prints are signed “Toyokuni,” while
others are signed “Toyokuni II.” While this may appear to be confusing,
other marks on the print help to identify the true designer.
Other important marks to note are publisher
seals and censor seals. Publisher seals could either be quite
simple, usually the trademark of the
publisher, while
others could include much more information, such as the street
address and even advertisements to help sell the print slogans
or appeals to purchase
the print.
This print, “Koto,” by Kunisada, bears the seal of a publisher known
as Jo Kin. Jo Kin published prints from the 1830’s to the 1850’s.
Such marks as these are extremely beneficial in determining the period of the
print as well.
In 1790, the face of ukiyo-e changed forever.
Publishers and printers were required to put a censor seal on
all of their prints. Censorship
of woodblock
prints was
mandated by the government and failure to comply often resulted
in punishment. While some publishers found a way around these
edicts, the seals
that remain
help researchers to date and correctly credit, otherwise,
anonymous prints. 
Lastly, marks on prints could include the
title of the work and the series to which it belonged. Translating
these titles
is also a somewhat complicated
process
because over the course of time time, the meaning of the
characters has changed or the earlier pronunciation has been
lost. The title of this print
is read “Playing
Koto, Writing, and Playing Go: Koto.” This can be understood to mean that
the print is from the series or the triptych “Playing Koto, Writing, and
Playing Go” and that this piece is “Koto.”
Japanese wood block prints not only convey
a culture of the past, but share their stories like no other
piece of art.
--Martee
Reeg
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