Yoshitoshi: Mailing Newspaper Hôchi No.566 (Yûbin Hôchi-shinbun 566 gô) (Sold)

Artist: Tsukioka Yoshitoshi
Title: Mailing Newspaper Hôchi No.566 (Yûbin Hôchi-shinbun 566 gô)
Date: 1875, 4th Month

Following the success of the Tokyo Nichinichi Shinbun published by Gusokuya, Kinshô-dô started to publish the Yûbin Hôchi Shinbun, the color illustration of a journalistic article in 1875. The full-color illustration of a newpaper article of this type was called nishikie shinbun or shinbun nishikie, and was based on the original article which had come out earlier. The illustrations for the Yûbin Hôchi Shinbun were done by Yoshitoshi and the texts were written by several different writers. The name of the newspaper was written on a bright western red background, the color which was considered to be something modern at that time, explains Tomizawa. The original article of this print is No. 491, noted by Tomizawa. The scene depicts a woman who is devotedly caring for a sick man. A boy plays with a kite at the open window of a farm house, from which one can view the mountain range of the northern Japan, Hokuriku. A single flower of morning glory conveys a summer day. The text reads: “Tomiyo, the wife of a farmer Toyoshima Tomozô was honored by the mayor of the city, Ôkaki village of Kurokawa-gun, Miyagi Prefecture in northern Japan. Tomozô had been ill for roughly ten years and his wife Tomiyo had been sincerely taking care of her husband in bed and praying to a god for his recovery. Becoming the wife of a man with Hansen’s disease (leprosy) she was advised to leave him. However she refused and continued to devote herself to him. She even provided him and her son with nice clothing, although she had not enough for herself. Her kind and wise attitude was praised.”

Dimensions: ôban
Publisher: Kinshô-dô
Literature: Tomizawa TatsuzIo: Bunmei kaika no nishikie shinbun, Chiba Munincipal Museum of Art, Tokyo 2008. p. 154
Seal: censor’s seal:date 1875/4; carver’s seal:Horita
Signature: Taiso Yoshitoshi

SKU: MED046