Tenjin Bridge from Thirty-Six Views of Osaka, 1947

by Akamatsu Rinsaku

This collecton's print is from the 1952 second edition of the series "Thirty-Six Views of Osaka," published by the Osaka publishing house Kanao Bun'endō 金尾文淵堂. Bun'endō, under the direction of Kanao Tanejirō 金尾種次郎 (1879-1947), was a pioneer in the "sketch-tour" genre and renowned for the artistic quality of their publications.  

Four editions of "Tenjin Bridge," as shown below, were issued, with the original edition published in February 1947, just before Kanao's death, the second edition being published by Kanao Bun'endō in 1952, the year before Akamatsu's passing, and the third edition being re-packaged by the publisher into an abbreviated series of twenty-four prints titled "Osaka Scenery" (大阪風景), also published in 1952.[2] In 1967, to mark the 100th anniversary of the Meiji Era, the Osaka City publisher Gakushūsha Co. Ltd. 株式会社学修社 reprinted the original thirty-six print series in three volumes with a commentary sheet for each print in Japanese and English.[3]

The 1947 first edition of thirty-six prints is distinguished from later editions by the appearance of print numbers, as they appear in the table of contents, in the lower right corner. As shown below, leftmost print, "Tenjin Bridge" carried the number 18 in the lower right corner of the margin. The 1952 second edition omitted print numbers on the prints, as shown second from the left. The re-packaging of the series into a twenty-four print portfolio (Osaka Scenery), also released in 1952, renumbered the prints, placing the new numbers in the bottom right corner of the margin. As shown third from the left, "Tenjin Bridge" was now designated as print 12. It also added a red seal (unread) in the bottom right corner by the print's title and artist's signature. The 1967 Gakushūsha edition is identifiable by its use of saturated colors.

In discussing the production of the Bun'endō published prints, Lawrence Smith comments, "The block-cutter and printer (Monju Keitarō and Nishimura Kumakichi) have skillfully and economically translated Rinsaku's brush and wash style into the woodblock medium."[4] 

Publisher's Notes

The English language table of contents for the February-March 1947 first edition of "Thirty-Six Views of Osaka" carries the following note: "The artist Rinsaku Akamatsu, being an authority of modern western style painting, selected the thirty six views of Osaka in order to represent them as they were before the recent war damages, and made the pictures in wood prints.” Being published eighteen months after the war's end, when the woodblock print publishing business was still struggling to obtain supplies and sales, it is clear that the inclusion of English language material and this statement was geared towards an Occupation audience. The omission of any reference to the war on the Japanese language table of contents was tailored to a Japanese audience that might have preferred this nostalgic look at Osaka area landscapes untinged by any mention of the war.

For the 1952 twenty-four print release "Scenery of Osaka" the English language note has been only slightly modified to read, "The artist Rinsaku Akamatsu, who is the authority on western style painting in Japan, selected these 24 views of Osaka where had been most noted for their scenery in pre-war days. These pictures are painted on wood-engravings."

[1] website of Osaka Convention & Tourism Bureau https://osaka-info.jp/en/spot/tenjin-bridge/ [accessed 2-22-24]

[2] In Scott Johnson's article "Sketch-tour Books and Prints of the Early Twentieth-century" appearing in issue 31 of Andon, the journal of the Society for Japanese Art, Andon  31, he writes that after the 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake, "Kanao was forced to move back to Osaka [from Tokyo] where he scaled down his involvement in the increasingly expensive business of publishing woodblock prints and book illustrations. He . . . died just-after proofing his final publication, the l941 Osaka Sanjórokkeí (36 Views of Osaka), a nostalgic look at pre-war Osaka by his lifelong friend Akamatsu Rinsaku.

[3] To view each print in the Gakushūsha edition see the website of Kansai University, Research Center for Cityscape and Cultural Heritage of Osaka https://www.kansai-u.ac.jp/Museum/osaka-toshi/img_about.html [accessed 2-22-24]

[4] Japanese Prints During the Allied Occupation 1945-1952, Lawrence Smith, British Museum Press, 2003, p. 111.

Print Details