Page:The Surviving Works of Sharaku (1939).djvu/52

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ortrait of Miyako Dennai III reading an announcement.

The same print as the preceding number but in a state that shows an inscription on the scroll from which Miyako Dennai is reading. The impression has been considerably trimmed so that part of the figure and all of the signature are missing.

It has not been noted hitherto that in the four impressions with lettering which have been reproduced previously, the inscription in one differs from that in the three others. The print formerly in the Jacquin Collection which is reproduced in the Matsukata Catalogue as well as in the Vignier-Inada Catalogue, number 290, from which it was rephotographed for the illustrations in Noguchi, Nakata and Ukiyo-ye Taisei, agrees in the arrangement and wording of the inscription with the British Museum impression, splendidly reproduced in color by von Seidlitz, with the one formerly in the Gonse Collection which is reproduced in Migeon’s Chefs d’oeuvre d’Art Japonais and with the one here shown. In the impression reproduced as Rumpf number 38, however, the inscription obviously is different not only in the text itself but also in the number and length of the lines in which it is arranged. Unfortunately Rumpf’s reproduction is so dim and in such small scale that the Japanese characters cannot be read with any assurance; but according to him the announcement Miyako Dennai is reading states that “new portraits of the actors appearing in the second act which will follow immediately” have been published.

The inscription on our print and on all the others to which we have referred reads: ''Kōjō. Kore yori nibanme shinpan nigao goran ni ire tatematsuri soro'', which means approximately: “Announcement. From now on.we present for your inspection newly printed portraits for the nibanme.” The difficulty in determining the exact meaning comes from the word nibanme. If this is translated “second part,” as is done by some authorities, the meaning of the announcement would be equivalent to that given by Rumpf. If, on the other hand, nibanme means rather “second