Summary

An intended one hundred designs, of which twenty appear to have been completed, for an advertising campaign to help revive flagging demand for the traditional Takasago dyeing process. The designer of the prints, Itō Shinsui 伊東深水 (1898-1972), was the best-known bijin-ga designer of the time, working to create designs to be reproduced through traditional woodblock technique or through new technologies employing photo-offset technology. It appears that all the designs for the series were newly drawn by Shinsui. It is unknown who financed these prints (possibly a trade association) and while the name of the publisher, Kisendō 喜扇堂, located at the time in Suitengu-mae, Tokyo, appears on all the prints (except that of "No. 0" as explained below) no information is readily available on this publisher. 

With the exception of the first print, sometimes referred to as "No. 0" or as the "cover sheet" in the series, (see IHL Cat. #2507 below), all extant prints carry a number in the top margin along with the series title 高砂染浴衣美人百姿 Takasago-zome yokui bijin hyakushi (One Hundred Beauties in Takasago Dyed Yukata).[1] While titles are often applied to each of the prints, no titles appear on the prints, only numbers between 1 and 20. 

"No. 0" carries no number and is in a slightly larger format than the other prints in the series. Dr. Ross Walker notes that his inclusion of this print in the series is based upon his observations in Japan, often seeing it included with other prints in the series.

Assuming it is part of the series, it is the only print carrying a date, 昭和六年初夏 (early summer 1931), and neither the series title or the names of the publisher or printer appear on it, as they do with the remaining prints.

An extensive web search failed to find any images or references to prints numbered 8, 12,15 or any number higher than 20. Dr. Walker believes that these three prints, 8, 12, 15 likely were issued and "haven't been seen in the market yet." He also points to a set of postcard-size prints using images from the series (see http://www.jaodb.com/db/ItemDetail.asp?item=40756&varscholar=&varlanguage=E) which contain three images not seen in the full-size prints, which could be the images for the supposed missing numbers.

Printing

Each of the extant prints with the exception of "Number 0" bear the printing company name and the patented plate-making process they employed in the lower right margin. The plate-making and printing for the series was done by two large printing companies, Toppan Printing Co., Ltd 凸版印刷株式会社, still thriving today, and Nisshin Printing Co., Ltd. 日清印刷株式会社, which merged with the publishing house Shūeisha 秀英舎 in 1935 to become part of Nippon Printing Co., Ltd., still in operation today. Toppan used the patented H-B (Huebner-Bleistein) process of photo plate-making and Nisshin used the patented KI Banton process.[2] These processes employed photo lithographic plate technology and mechanized offset-printing to realize accurately registered multi-color prints. The H-B process, which was a tightly held patent by the Huebner-Bleistein Patents Company of Buffalo, New York, was licensed by a consortium of six Japanese print companies, including Toppan. Nisshin Printing used the KI Banton photo-mechanical lithographic system, also patented, as they were not part of the consortium which purchased a license to use the H-B process. The H-B system was used to create the plates for prints numbered  3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 18, 19 and the KI process was used for prints numbered 1, 2, 11, 13, 14, 16, 17, 20. Dr. Ross Walker on his website provides an interesting comparison between the two systems which can be seen at https://www.ohmigallery.com/DB/Artists/Ito_Shinsui.asp.

Takasago Dyeing Method

Source: Compiled from information on the EmozTlab website and other sources 

Takasago dyeing dates back to the early 1600s when it was adopted by the Himeji Clan. But, it did not become widely recognized until the late Edo period (1603-1867), when Kawai Sun'ō (1767-1841), chief retainer of the Himeji Domain, promoted the production of local specialty products, setting up sericulture, textile and dyeing factories, many of the dyeing plants using the Takasago method in which two stencils with different patterns are layered in order and dyed. This method gets its name from the original patterns of pine trees, pine needles and pine cones inspired by the “aioi no matsu” (twin pine trees or paired pines) which grew at Takasago Shrine. The pine motif was overlaid with other auspicious designs. A long-lasting dark blue dye was the predominant color used in the designs (as can be seen in Shinsui's prints), sometimes supplemented with several other colors. Both cotton and the best silk fabrics were dyed and it is reported that both the shogunate and Imperial Court received gifts of Takasago dyed silk garments from the Himeji Clan.

With the 1867 Meiji Restoration, the shogunate and domain system collapsed and Takasago Dyeing lost the support of the Himeji Clan. Gradually, to simplify the dyeing process, single-layer patterns became the mainstream, and indigo became the only dye used. As other dyeing techniques were combined with the Takasago process, the distinctive characteristics of Takasago Dyeing were gradually lost and by the early Showa period (1926-1989), the process had largely died out.

Today, the EmozTlab (EmozlLab Co., Ltd.) in Takasago, founded in 2016, researches the history of this dyeing process with an eye towards its revival, as can be seen in the dress and modern kimono on display in the EmozTlab building, shown below.

[1] also seen translated as One Hundred Figures of Beauties Wearing Takasago Yukatas and One Hundred Beauties in Takasago Dyed Yukata Light Kimono.

[2] I can find no reference to the K.I. Banton platemaking/printing process even using various English spellings of the last name, which is phonetically translated into Japanese on the prints using the Banton process as "バントン"

Photos taken in the EmozTlab in Takasago

PRINTS IN COLLECTION 

Print Details