translation of signs

[andre99]

Hi all, could you please help me with the translation of those few signs on the picture? Could you please confirm it is actually Japanese and explain the meaning? Thank you very much whoever can assist me...

 

[Majestic]

Seems to be Japanese. They look to me to be chrysanthemum - kiku (菊) on the left, and Tagawaya-han (田川屋版) on the right. Tagawaya would be the name of the printer/publisher. I don't know about chrysanthemum...if indeed that is correct. It could be the subject of the picture. I doubt its the artist.

You got something more to go on? A bigger picture of the piece itself?

 

[andre99]

Seems to be Japanese. They look to me to be chrysanthemum - kiku (菊) on the left, and Tagawaya-han (田川屋版) on the right. Tagawaya would be the name of the printer/publisher. I don't know about chrysanthemum...if indeed that is correct. It could be the subject of the picture. I doubt its the artist.

You got something more to go on? A bigger picture of the piece itself?

It is a part of the picture (woodblock print ) which I am about to buy and they tell me that the artist is Hiro Yamagata which I am really not sure... Thanks a lot for your assistance!!!

 

[Majestic]

Hmm. Well, its definitely not the post-war pop artist Hiro Yamagata. I'm drawing a blank on any other ukiyoe artists of that name. Nice picture, though. Wish I could find out more about it. Looks to me to be a circa early 1800s picture of geisha/oiran going into a tea house, but a search on any of these key words isn't kicking out anything useful. The 菊 - chrysanthemum is throwing me off, too. It's obviously a winter picture, but chrysanthemums is an autumn flower. I was thinking chrysanthemum might be the name of the woman in the foreground (or a character's name, as this might be a scene from a play or novel), but alas I've hit one long brick wall.

 

[andre99]

Hmm. Well, its definitely not the post-war pop artist Hiro Yamagata. And I'm drawing a blank on any other ukiyoe artists of that name. Nice picture, though. Wish I could find out more about it. Looks to me to be a circa early 1800s picture of geisha/oiran going into a tea house, but a search on any of these key words isn't kicking out anything useful.

Well, I see that you are also an expert for this kind of art!!!! I am not but I like the picture and my girlfriend is very keen of geishas and Japan in general so I wanted to buy this for her as a gift. Could you perhaps advise about the possible value of this piece? They ask almost 1000 dollars which for me is a lot of money but they are also claiming that it is Yamagata (they are not specialized for Asian art so maybe they really do not have an idea...).

 

[Majestic]

Haha, not an expert, just an enthusiast. Found something else, though. The picture you linked to looks like a copy of a bigger piece by Yōshū Chikanobu
Snow Scene on the Banks of the Sumida River
Chikanobu Yoshu (1838-1912) Toyohara - - "Snow Scene on the Banks of Sumida River" -
Haven't yet found out who did the one page copy, or when.
A thousand bucks is a lot of money to pay for something you are unsure of. It's an incredible amount of money to pay to someone who doesn't know what they are selling you. I would avoid it. Not because I think it is fake, but because the seller doesn't seem to know what he/she has, and there is no way to set a price for an unknown item. You can find authentic triptychs by the original artist for far less than $1000 here in Japan. For example, take a look at the Chikanobu prints for sale at the bottom of the page at the link below.
周延 | 浮世絵 | 山田書店美術部オンラインストア