Illustrated Collection of Famous Japanese Puppets of the Osaka Bunrakuza, 1926-1927

Prints from an Illustrated Collection of Famous Japanese Puppets of the Osaka Bunrakuza by Hasegawa Sadanobu III (Konobu III)

(Prints in The Lavenberg Collection)

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Illustrated Collection of Famous Japanese Puppets of the Osaka Bunrakuza, 1926-1927

by Hasegawa Sadanobu III (Konobu III) 

The 12 sets/volumes of prints

About the "Illustrated Collection of Famous Japanese Puppets

of the Osaka Bunrakuza"

Note: For background on the Bunraku puppet theater please see the list of reference materials at the bottom of this page.

This collection of forty-eight color woodblock prints was designed by Hasegawa Sadanobu III (Konobu III) (1881-1963), an Osaka-based artist with a deep interest in Japanese traditional theater, and issued over the period March 1926 (Taishō 15) to August 1927 (Shōwa 2)1 by the publishing houses Bijutsusha 美術社 in Tokyo and, on a subscription (members only) basis, by Hangakai hanmoto 版画会板元 (板畫會板元) in Kyoto. The cost per print set was 3 yen by subscription and 3 yen 50 sen for a single print set. The editor and publisher for both the Bijutsusha and Hangakai hanmoto sets was Hayashi Eikichi 林榮吉, who was also the editor for Hasegawa's Collection of One Hundred Kumadori Makeups in Kabuki. (See Hasegawa Sadanobu III (Konobu III) (1881-1963) for prints from this collection.)

The Illustrated Collection of Famous Japanese Puppets of the Osaka Bunrakuza consists of twelve sets of prints each set depicting a specific play in the bunraku repertory, as listed in the below table. Each set contains a stage set for the specific play along with three prints of puppet characters appearing in the play and an explanatory sheet, for a total of forty-eight color woodblock prints and twelve monochrome explanatory sheets. Each of the stage set prints was originally issued with a tissue overlay showing the position of the three puppet characters on the stage. All of the plays pictured were performed at the Bunraku Theater (Bunraku-za) located within the Goryō Shrine compound in Osaka. The Goryō Bunraku-za burned down in November 1926 after what has been described as "an extremely difficult managerial era" and "lost interest" by the public in the late Taishō era.2 It is unknown what role, if any, the management of the Goryō Bunraku-za may have played in the formulation and issuance of this print series in their efforts to revitalize the theater.

The prints as originally issued made use of deluxe printing techniques including embossing on many of the puppet robes and faces, use of woodgrain backgrounds, bokashi shading and black lacquer to highlight the wigs.

1 Dates are taken from the colophons on the envelopes containing the print sets in the Waseda University Archives

2 National Diet Library website page http://www.ndl.go.jp/scenery/e/column/kansai/goryo_bunrakuza.html which provides a history of the Goryo Bunrakuza.

Reissued by Uchida Publishing

At a later date, likely after WWII, the publisher Uchida acquired the woodblocks for these prints and reissued many, if not all, of the prints. The Uchida puppet prints bear their octagonal Uchida hanmoto seal 版元 うちだ, as can be seen in the lower right corner of the below print on the right, and their prints typically have larger margins. The color palette was also altered on many of the Uchida reissued prints, although in the below first edition print on the left, the original orange ink has oxidized to a rich brown. I believe the stage set prints, although they do not carry Uchida's seal, were also reissued by Uchida but without the tissue paper overlays and added margins as can be seen in IHL Cat. #1658 Stage Set for Kamakura Sandaiki. A colophon from the Uchida reissued set is shown below under the "Colophon..." section.

Decorative envelopes exist for each set of four prints and the explanatory sheet, as does a decorative portfolio or outer box containing the entire set of plays. 

The collection's title 日本名物大阪文楽座人形画集 (Ōsaka Bunraku-za Ningyō Gashū: Nihon Meibutsu) has been variously translated as Illustrated Collection of the Famous Japanese Puppets of the Osaka Bunrakuza; Book of Noted Puppets of the Bunrakuza Osaka and Famous Products of Japan: Osaka Bunraku Theatre Dolls, Book of Prints.

Colophons for the Tokyo-based Bijutsha set, for the Kyoto-based Hangakai hanmoto supscription set and for the Uchida set.

last revision:

4/19/2024

5/16/2021 created