花菖蒲と蛙の雨 [adapted title]
hanashoubu to kaeru no ame
Japanese Iris and Frog in Rain
ハナショウブとカエルの雨
Edition I (only edition): | [no signature] | 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. 128-2 is the Fan Series design with fan shape 2 in the 128 Japanese Iris theme. Like all other designs in this series, 128-2 was only produced in a single print run, and few copies are currently documented.
Theme History:According to the delivery documents for Fan Series installment ten, the woodblock prints of the 128 Japanese Iris theme were printed in March 1935 and distributed March 25, 1935 in installment ten (of twelve). The series as originally announced would have seen this installment published in October 1934, but there had previously been several delays and skipped delivery months. On these documents Rakusan used 花菖蒲, hanashoubu, 'Japanese iris', as the theme title and also as the title of 36 Series design 128 published at the same time.
128 is the second of two iris themes in the 36 Series. Much earlier in the series Rakusan created the 102 Rabbitear Iris theme which is irregular in its arrangement. The 128 Japanese Iris theme represents a separate, subsequent, addition to the series which is entirely distinct from the 102 Rabbitear Iris theme.
At least some of the designs in both iris themes were adapted from iris sketches originally created in the late 1920s during the planning of the earlier 100 Series. The 128 Japanese Iris theme is related to design 47, and the 102 Rabbitear Iris theme to designs 23alt and 23 (see below).
Description:The woodblock print of 128-2 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:
![]() 128-2 as originally drawn (reconstruction) |
The general name for all frogs is 蛙, かえる, カエル, kaeru. The little frog in 128-2 may be a small specimen of Japanese Brown Frog, Rana japonica, 日本赤蛙, ニホンアカガエル, nihon aka-gaeru, lit. 'Japanese red frog', which Rakusan has used in several other artworks.
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128-1 | 128-3 | 128-4 | 128-5 | 128 |
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47 |
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102-1A | 102-1B | 102-4 | 102-5 | 102 |
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23alt | 23 | 46alt | 46 |
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109-2 | 110-3 | 111 | 114-1 |