Two <i>bijin</i> traveling aboard a boat in winter

Utagawa Kunisada (歌川国貞) / Toyokuni III (三代豊国) (artist 1786 – 01/12/1865)

Two bijin traveling aboard a boat in winter

Print


1842 – 1846
9.25 in x 14.49 in (Overall dimensions) Japanese woodblock print

Signed: Kōchōrō Toyokuni ga
香蝶楼豊国画
Publisher: Moriya Jihei (Marks 353 - seal 01-079)
Censor's seal: Fu (1842-46)
Lyon Collection - compare this print with an 1864 print by Hiroshige II and Toyokuni III

This is probably one panel of a triptych.

The coloration of this print is remarkably fresh.

The nanushi censor's seal, Fu, short for Fukatsu Ihei (普勝伊兵衛), appeared on prints between VI/1842-XI/46. There is at least one other print in the Lyon Collection with this seal. It too shows a beautiful woman carrying an umbrella in a snow storm. (See #795)

Andreas Marks defines the term nanushi: "With the enactment of the Tenpō reforms in 1842, the censorship system was changed and from the sixth month on, nanushi 名主, minor government officials, were selected to carry out the approval by applying their name seal to prints."
Moriya Jihei (森屋治兵衛) (publisher)
beautiful women (bijin-ga - 美人画) (genre)