[modernly supplied title]
朝顔に蜜蜂
asagao ni mitsubachi
Morning Glory and Honeybee
アサガオにミツバチ
Edition I (only edition): | 楽山篁子生 | Raku-zan Kou-shi-sei | + Seal C |
[For illustration of seals listed by seal code letter, see the Seals article.]
Series History and Definitions:Rakusan arranged the Fan Series prints into shared-subject groups typically consisting of one design in each of five different fan silhouette shapes. Each of these groups of Fan Series designs are united by a corresponding polychrome 36 Series design which defines the subject. Each shared-subject Fan Series group and its 36 Series design together comprise a theme (画題, gadai).
Rakusan did not include the Fan Series in his main sequence numbering. Therefore, the original number used for each of the 36 Series prints has been modified to identify the Fan Series members of its theme. The five different fan silhouette shapes have been here assigned arbitrary numbers 1 through 5. To indicate a fan design these shape designations are added to the 36 Series number separated by a hyphen. 107-5 is the Fan Series design with fan shape 5 in the 107 Morning Glory theme. Like all other designs in this series, 107-5 was only produced in a single print run, and few copies are currently documented.
Theme History:The individual designs in the 107 Morning Glory theme were completed in at least two stages. Four of the five fan designs (including 107-5) have seal C which indicates a carving date during the first half of 1934. However, the remaining fan design and the 36 Series design 107 have seal B which indicates a later carving period closer to the time of publication.
At least some of the morning glory designs in this theme were probably adapted from sketches originally created in the late 1920s during the planning of design 27 of the earlier 100 Series.
Description:The woodblock print of 107-5 was modeled closely on an actual-size original sumi sketch which although lost can be reconstructed by digitally reversing the image of the woodblock print:
![]() 107-5 as originally drawn (reconstruction) |
The general name for any bee, wasp, or hornet is 蜂, はち, ハン, hachi. Here Rakusan apparently has intended to show a honeybee, 蜜蜂, みつばち, ミツバチ, mitsubachi, (lit. honey-bee).
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107-1 | 107-2 | 107-3 | 107-4 | 107 |
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27alt | 27 |
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104-5 | 105-3 | 115-5 | 129-5 | 136-4 |