One of the easiest ways for novices to identity which series a print belongs to is to look at the ‘title cartouche’ – the panel(s), usually in a top corner, which contain the title of the series, and often the name of the individal print (and often a fair amount of additional description of the scene shown). There are often two, one of which (usually a vertical rectangle) will contain the series title, and the other (often a square) which will contain information about the particular print.
In addition to the shape of the cartouche(s), other identifying characteristics for them include the coloration, etc of the cartouches. If you have a number of possibilities, based on cartouche shape and colour, look at the characters (kan-ji) in the title – even if you cannot read them, you can see if the kanji in one of the potentially matching series are the same as the ones on your print.
Other things which can identify the series include the borders, or other overall design features.
