Posted by Andrew (172.162.157.144) on January 26, 2006 at 20:13:33:
In Reply to: Tale of Genji Tripanel posted by Jim R. on January 25, 2006 at 01:56:52:
["According to a friend from Japan it is signed Utagawa Kunisada Ga"]
In this case (IF that reading is the correct one)the set can be by either Kunisada (Toyokuni III) or Kunisada II. That particular signature is not very common, it was used occasionally by Kunisada mostly around the 1840's and thereafter occasionally by or in reference to Kunisada II (mostly in the late 1850's - 1860's)
["The publisher is identified as Tsuta-ya Kichizo. There are small stamps at the bottom of each panel in the form of a mountian with hollyhock leaves"]
The "leaves under mountains" are the publisher's seals, there are two very similar ones - Tsutaya Kichizo and Tsutaya Jusaburo.
["I was hoping to find out a bit more if someone might be familiar with the scene"]
There are hundreds of Genji scenes by both artists so it's difficult to say much without seeing an image of the prints. Does the set have a title? Some have titles which would give a little bit more information about specific aspects of the "Tale of Genji" as adapted to ukiyoe. But many others are kind of generic "Genji", everyone could recognize him as a character so then not much more would be said about the scene.