This page catalogs all known prints in Yoshitoshi’s Yoshitoshi‘s series ‘Seiū kandankei (情得 感檀形 – Barometer of Emotions)’. The title may contain one of the complex homonym jokes common in ukiyo circles: ‘seiū‘ (晴雨) means ‘weather’, and kandankei (‘寒暖計’) means ‘thermometer’.
The series features well known kabuki actors in diverse roles, the theme of the series being to show them across a wide range of weather/nature conditions.
Like many artists, Yoshitoshi produced kabuki prints early in his career. Most examples of his work in the genre date from the eary to mid 1860s. Yoshitoshi is not known for his actor prints, and this series, dating from the middle of his career, ranks among the best kabuki prints that he produced.
For other examples of his later (and better) kabuki prints, please see the series: ‘Modern Actors of the West’ (1877) and ‘Snow, Moon and Flowers’ (1890).
Technical details
- Dates: 1876 – 1877 (1)
- Size: ōban
- Signed: ōju Yoshitoshi hitsu
- Publisher: Ōkura Magobei
- Engravers: Hori Gin
Previous cataloguings
Listed in Keyes’ thesis:
Roger. S. Keyes, "Courage and Silence: A Study of the Life and Color Woodblock Prints of Tsukioka Yoshitoshi 1839-1892", Cinncinnati, 1982
where it appears as series #335; he listed the 14 known prints in the series. The next listing was in:
Eric van den Ing, Robert Schaap, "Beauty and Violence: Japanese Prints by Yoshitoshi 1839-1892", Havilland, Eindhoven, 1992
where it appears as series #28 (pg. 53, 119).
We use the Keyes numbers to order the prints below.
If you have either i) information about any errors on the page, ii) better images than the ones below, please let us know.
