PREFATORY EXPLANATIONS.

While as a rule the pictures in this catalogue are arranged in the chronological order of their production, in some instances they are grouped according to subject irrespective of the dates of issue.

Titles with the mark solid diamond denote titles of the series, e.g. OMI HAKKEI, (See No. 57) while the mark open diamond denotes the sub-title such as KARASAKI RAIN. Those titles without any mark are the additions of the compiler of the catalogue.

Pictures designated with the mark * are illustrated.

Prints are of various sizes. The standard size, designated in this catalogue as Ō-ban is roughly 15 by 10 inches and may be either lateral, Ō-ban Yoko-ye, or vertical, Ō-ban Tate-ye. Hiroshige's prints have usually a border thus reducing the size of the picture itself by ½ to ¾ of an inch. Large prints may be made in several ways: The tryptych, or three sheet print, is formed by joining three Ō-ban either at the longest dimension, when it would be called Tate-ye Sammai-tsuzuki, or at the shorter dimension forming a Yoko-ye Sammai-tsuzuki : in English we might say a vertical tryptych e.g. the KANAZAWA MOON ; (See Illustration 226, Plate 79) and a lateral tryptych, such as the 47 Ronin Crossing the Bridge. (See Illustration 84., Plate 38). As lateral tryptychs are comparatively rare, the word tryptych usually denotes the vertical form. Occasionally one may meet with a tryptych where the top of each vertical sheet is joined to the bottom of another vertical sheet, but such examples being exceedingly rare are not taken into this category, tho such a set would also be correctly designated as a Sammai-tsuzuki, and would require additional explanation.

The Kakemono-ye is a diptych where the top of a vertical print is joined to the bottom of another vertical sheet thus making a picture 30 inches by 10, such as the well-known Monkey Bridge (See Illustration 114, Plate 50) or Snow Gorge (See Illustration 26, Plate 16). Such a print might be called Ni-Mai-Tsuzuki but as that term would also correctly apply to a diptych where the side of a vertical print is joined to the side of another vertical print, the term Ni-mai-tate is usually employed to denote the kakemono-ye.

Prints smaller than the standard size are designated thus:-

Chū-ban is the term for a plate just half the Ō-ban, and may be either vertical, Tate-Chū-ban, or lateral, Yoko-Chūban. Yotsugiri is the size of half the Chū-ban, or is the quarter plate.

Ai-ban is a size slightly smaller than the Ō-ban but not so small as the Chū-ban: it measures about 13 by 8¾ inches.

Ō-Tan-zaku is a sheet measuring 15 by 6.6 inches. The regulation size of the paper used for prints, called Ō-bōsho, was sufficient to make two Ō-ban, but the same sheet would cut to make three Ō-tanzaku. The Bow Moon (See Illustration 48, Plate 22) is a well-known example of this size. Ō-tanjaku is about the same size as the Ō-ban Hoso-ye which was the term in use prior to Hiroshige's era.

Chū-tanzaku is made from a sheet of Ō-bōsho cut in four and measures about 15 by 5 inches.

Ko-tanzaku measures about 13 by 4 inches.