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