This page catalogs all known prints in Yoshitoshi’s series ‘Twenty-Four Hours at Shinbashi and Yanagibashi ( Shinryu nijushi toki ).’
During Yoshitoshi’s life, the Yoshiwara districts of Shinbashi and Yanagibashi were busy and quite lively. Yoshitoshi’s uncle lived in Shinbashi, and Yoshitoshi spent years in the neighborhood. The Yanagibashi district, along the Sumida river, had long been the dominant geisha area but Shinbashi was growing in prominence at the time this series was published. This series presents a chronologic glimpse into 24 hours in the life of the area. The text was written by Takabatake Ransen, a journalist who also wrote many of the news stories in nishikii by Yoshiiku and other artists. Takabatake Ransen wrote in the playful gesaku tradition, which relies on special “in-group” knowledge to be fully translated and understood. The Hotei reference (listed below) translates and presents this beautiful text.
Technical details
- Dates: 1880-1881 published
- Size: Ōban
- Signed: oju Yoshitoshi ga
- Seal: Taiso , Yoshi (varies)
- Publishers: Morimoto Junzaburō, Nakamura Mitsu
- Engravers: Hori Yata (Watanabe Yatarō), Horikō
- Text: Tentendō Shujin (Takabatake Ransen)
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 #427;
Eric van den Ing, Robert Schaap, "Beauty and Violence: Japanese Prints by Yoshitoshi 1839-1892", Havilland, Eindhoven, 1992
where it appears as series #39 (pg. 60, 125);
Famous Japanese prints series, "A courtesan's day: hour by hour", Hotei Publishing, Amsterdam, 2004.
an excellentl reference where the series is illustrated and translated in its entirety.
We use the Keyes numbers to order the prints below.
