Narazaki Eishō

As I already wrote in the section dedicated to Fuyō, the name Narazaki Eishō (Yeishō) seems to appear for the first time on page 114 of Watanabe Shozaburo’s catalog (1935 for the Japanese edition and 1936 for the English one) and then mentioned by Shizuya Fujikake in 1949 (“Japanese Wood-block Prints”, page 94, 1949, second edition, Tourist library vol. 10, Japan Travel Bureau ed., not in 1938, first edition, as always reported).

Narazaki Eishō was a pupil of Edoardo Chiossone (source for confirmation: “Hakutei Jiden”, 1971, posthumous autobiography by Ishii Hakutei, a printmaker and painter who also affiliated with the Printing Bureau like Narazaki).

Fujikake in 1949 does not indicate the date of Narazaki’s death, which occurred in 1936, as reported instead by Watanabe in the 1951 catalog (“He died in 1936 at Nakano, the suburb of Tokyo”).

In this section I will deal only with the works attributed by Watanabe Shozaburo to Narazaki Eishō in his catalogues, referring to the specific section for those with the Fuyo signature or seal..

In the 1936 catalog Watanabe lists 8 prints in oban format:

E91 Inner scene of Asakusa temple

E92 New parliament building

E93 Meiji-jingu shrine in Tokyo

E94 The side view of Asakusa temple

E95 Tateishi-beach, Diamond mountain

E96 An iron-bridge over Oryokko river, Korea

E97 Restaurant in ship at Dotonbori, Osaka

E98 Kiyomizu Kannon temple in Ueno park

Of these 8 prints, only 4 are in the 1951 edition with different numbers and titles:

E-91 Inner scene of Asakusa temple

E-92 New diet building

E-93 Meiji-jingu shrine in Tokyo

E-94 Rissekiho beach, Diamond mountain, Korea

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The first 3 correspond to those of the 1936 edition, while the E94 corresponds to the E95 in 1936 catalog.

I have found no trace of the remaining 4 prints (E95-E98) from the 1936 catalogue, perhaps never published or very rare.

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I found three Narazaki Eisho seals:

type 1, rare, certainly pre-war, present only in dated prints (19/03/1932) and associated with the Watanabe seal “B” (1927-1932), “C” (1929-1942), D (1931- 1941) and to a seal or inscription not reported before this occasion, as far as I know (see file Eisho-03)

type 2, known only in two specimens (Ohmi Gallery and Carnegie Museum of Art) (Inner scene of Asakusa temple), with date (19/03/1932) and Watanabe seal “C” (1929-1942)

type 3, much more common, present only in specimens of “Inner scene of Asakusa temple” with date and without date (post-war).

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Narazaki Eisho prints catalog

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