Famous Products of Mountain and Sea

(Sankai meisan dzukushi)

Publisher: Shin Iseya Kohei of Ikenohata

c. 1833

This series of prints is listed as number 193 in Kuniyoshi by Basil William Robinson (Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 1961). The prints in this series are each about 14 by 10 inches (36 by 25 centimeters), a size known as ôban.

	Abalone from Ise Province with the ‘Marriage Rocks’
	Bonito (a schooling fish of the tuna family) from Sagami Province with Mt. Fuji in background
	Crucian carp (Carassius carassius) from Ômi Province
	Frozen snow from Kaga Province with beauty (bijin) having her wooden sandal (geta) adjusted
	Geese from Iyo (a city in Okinawa)
	Icefish from the Sumida River in Edo (present day Tokyo) with Mt. Fuji in background
	Imari ceramics from Hizen Province with a smoky kiln in the foreground
	Nara whitened cotton from Yamato Province with two women looking at a kite that has fallen in the water
	Noodles from Shinano Province with Mt. Fuji in the background
	Whales from Kii Province
	This is a key block print. It is an impression pulled from the first woodblock made by a carver from the artist’s original drawing. The artist would write instructions for each color on a separate key block print, and the woodblock for each color was cut using one of these as a guide. Registration marks (kento) are characteristically found on Japanese key block prints. Kento are cut in each woodblock, so that the paper can be properly aligned on each woodblock during printing. A kento in the shape of a reversed ‘L’ is visible in this print’s right lower corner. In addition to being a guide for carving the color woodblocks, the key block was also used to apply black ink (usually) in the printing process.

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