Temporary Number

"WC4"

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ADDITIONAL NOTES FOR THIS DESIGN

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Currently Documented Signature and Seal Markings:

Edition I and Edition II:	楽山画	Raku-zan Ga	+ Seal N	(all markings woodblock-printed)
Edition III:	[none]	---	+ Seal Q	(all markings hand-applied)

[Inclusion of Rakusan's name and address in either woodblock-printed or hand-applied cursive romaji is interpreted as advertising copy rather than as an artwork signature form.]

[For illustration of seals, see the Seals article.]

Design History:
The designation "WC4" is a temporary legacy numbering. The order of publication of the undated winter cards is conjectural and is therefore subject to change with additional information. Although the exact year of the publication of "WC4" is undocumented, it was most probably first produced circa 1931-1934. The woodblock print "WC4" was modeled on an original painting on paper about two or three times larger whose current location is unknown. The design was composed in a traditional style, but with the twist of the participants being giga (cartoon) frogs instead of people. The frog passenger is smoking a pipe (like the frog in another Rakusan woodblock print, SP1; see below).

Edition I and Edition II: Almost all copies of "WC4" are from the well-documented and abundant edition I and edition II printings. The design of "WC4" as it appears in these two editions incorporates several peculiar features. There are evident spelling errors in at least three different writing systems: English, Japanese kanji, and Romanized Japanese (romaji).

The edition I copies of "WC4" are distinguished by having a title printed in gray ink in the lower margin. This title is misspelled and reads SANJOBRIDGI KYOTO (for what should be SANJO BRIDGE, KYOTO). It is so precisely carved that it is at first difficult to recognize that it is actually printed using a wooden block rather than a machine press. Comparisons with other examples of small-capital text suggest that it is based on one of the styles of Rakusan’s own romaji handwriting. (Note that "WC5" and WC1935 have similarly printed titles which suggests all three winter card designs may have been created about the same time.)

Recognizing that the edition I title was misspelled, Rakusan omitted it when he reprinted edition II of "WC4". Edition I and edition II of "WC4" are also characterized by different color palettes. This is most evident in the background color, where edition I has pale blue and edition II has pale gray. All of the other colors are also slightly different. Edition II also has an additional impression in white ink, adding falling snow, snow on the ground, and brightening the other white areas including the wheel spokes and roof lines. Both examples illustrated above are of direct scans made under identical conditions and show these differences precisely.

Similarly large numbers of copies of "WC4" from reprintings of both editions were still available for distribution decades after Rakusan's death. This suggests that Rakusan was not made aware of the misspelling until after a large reprinting of the edition I version of "WC4". He then made an equally large reprinting of the revised edition II version. The Tsuchiya family has later distributed both versions of "WC4" equally as gifts to visitors.

In the lower right within the image area of the design are two lozenges containing kanji text. The orange lozenge on the right (intended to be read first) reads: 三条大橋, san-jou oo-hashi, 'Sanjo Bridge', which is the Japanese version of the title of the design (see also below). The green lozenge on the left reads: 紀光之圖, kikou no zu, but 紀光 is not a meaningful construction in Japanese. If, as the context suggests, the pronunciation kikou is intended to mean ‘traveler’s journal’ or ‘journey book’, then it is misspelled; and the kanji 紀光 should be rewritten 紀行. With that correction a loose, informal (and non-literal) translation would be something like: ‘Picture [brought back] from traveling [as a remembrance of the occasion] to be put in a souvenir album’; e.g. 'Sightseeing Picture’, ‘Traveler’s Picture’, or perhaps better, ‘Souvenir Picture’.

Along the lower margin and also within the image area Rakusan has included his address and a rendition of his name in Western style. The text is woodblock-printed in black ink and is in Rakusan's romaji cursive handwriting style:
56 Kitamachi-komatubara Kyoto
Rakusan Tuchiya
All of Rakusan's early writing is entirely in traditional Japanese scripts, and at least into the late 1940s he continued to struggle to adopt a consistent system of writing Japanese using romaji. Later, Rakusan settled on using the English-friendly Hepburn romaji transcription system where these place and family names are spelled ‘Kitamachi’, ‘Komatsubara’, and ‘Tsuchiya’. The earlier nihon-shiki romaji transcription system would render these same names as ‘Kitamati’, ‘Komatubara’, and ‘Tutiya’. On "WC4" Rakusan is inconsistent in using the Hepburn spelling ‘Kitamachi’, the nihon-shiki spelling ‘Komatubara’, and spelled his family name "Tuchiya" which is a hybrid of the two systems and correct in neither one. ‘Kitamachi’ is currently known only with that spelling. However, the nihon-shiki spelling ‘Komatubara’ occurs also in the 1933 Publicity Flyer and in several handwritten souvenir print dedications in 1947-1948. In addition to "WC4" the hybrid "Tuchiya" spelling is also known from at least one handwritten souvenir print dedication in 1947.

Because Rakusan was always keen to market his artwork from his home studio, he needed to find ways to provide his address to visitors. Rakusan had moved to his permanent new location in November of 1931. The number of errors in "WC4" suggest that this design was an early attempt to publicize this new address in a new, decorative, and amusing format. If so, then "WC4" (and by extension "WC5" and WC1935) would be the first winter cards and date from within the interval between the winters of 1931 and at the latest 1935.

Early dates for these cards also suits the current interpretation of the development of Rakusan seal use. In and after 1937 (including "WC7" and the post World War II edition II of "WC5") Rakusan used seal B₂ on winter cards.

If "WC4" was (like the later winter cards) also commissioned by Mr. Masao Morikawa, the Secretary to the President of Doshisha University in Kyoto, a very early date is unlikely. Until the middle of 1932 Morikawa, both a long-time friend and an important and influential patron, had been away from Japan for several years studying at the University of Chicago. However, the errors (which Morikawa likely would have caught) suggest that "WC4" could have been a project Rakusan completed on his own.

Edition III: What is called here edition III of "WC4" is represented by a single, apparently unfinished, copy which may have originally been an artist's proof [not yet illustrated here]. There is currently no evidence that "WC4" was ever more widely distributed in this form. It is also unclear just when the woodblock-printed portions of the edition III copy of "WC4" were printed. The single copy appears to be based on an incompletely-printed edition II copy which had only three or four woodblock-printing impressions: the dark gray outline key block, the light gray bokashi background, and the whites in the snow and highlights and on the bellies of the frogs. As is also characteristic of edition II, the edition I light gray English caption in the lower margin is missing.

At this point the printing of edition III diverged from both other editions by completing the woodblock printing with the addition of only one more impression. This is of a different, pale yellow-green ink color on both frogs and on the rightmost caption lozenge. The medium green and orange colors of both other editions were not included, and the floor of the ricksha and the leftmost caption lozenge remained uncolored. (Note that the caption lozenge printed in a green color is reversed from the other two editions - right instead of left.) The final, primary woodblock-printed signature, seal, kanji captions, and advertising address and name used in edition I and edition II were also omitted. The margins of the print were not trimmed for attachment to card stock, as might have been expected if the print had been prepared for distribution.

Rakusan later added a secondary hand-written partial address and name in romaji:
Komatubara Kitamachi Kyoto
Rakusan Tsuchiya
Note that Rakusan is still writing the nihon-shiki spelling ‘Komatubara’, but has converted to the Hepburn spelling ‘Tsuchiya’ for his family name. This inconsistency of spelling appears to have been resolved circa 1948, suggesting a limiting date for the inscription. Rakusan finished the print for distribution with a hand-applied seal Q which was his preferred secondarily applied seal circa 1947-early 1948. The relatively early implied dating for these secondarily added elements is surprising in that it now appears that most of the larger reprintings of edition I and edition II copies of "WC4" may have been made only after the distribution of this edition III copy.

Unfortunately, this edition III copy of "WC4" is not in good condition. The white-lead pigment used to print the various areas of snow and the bellies of the frogs has partially chemically altered to rusty brown or gray, and the paper has been toned and stained.

Location Illustrated:
The Sanjo Bridge (Sanjo Ohashi), 三条大橋, sanjou oo-hashi, lit. 'third large-bridge', has been one of the primary crossings of the Kamo River, 鴨川, kamo gawa, in SE Kyoto for many hundreds of years. It takes its name from Sanjo-dori, 三条大通り, sanjou douri, lit. 'third avenue', which crosses the bridge. Rakusan's depictions of this famous crossing are all of the former concrete bridge which was in use from by at least 1910 until 1950 (when it was replaced by the current structure).

Species Illustrated:
Although color-modified, stylized, and rendered as giga (cartoons), the frogs can be identified as Japanese Brown Frog, Rana japonica, ニホンアカガエル, 日本赤蛙, nihon aka-gaeru, lit. 'Japanese red frog'. Rakusan often illustrated these giga frogs as green or orange rather than their natural brownish color.