Original woodblock print triptych – Paper – Toyohara Yoshu Chikanobu (1838-1912) – “Teizen tōkei no zu” 庭前闘鶏之図 (Cockfighting in a Garden) – Japan – 1898 (Meiji 31)

Description

Original woodblock print triptych – Paper – Toyohara Yoshu Chikanobu (1838-1912) – “Teizen tōkei no zu” 庭前闘鶏之図 (Cockfighting in a Garden) – Japan – 1898 (Meiji 31)

This ukiyo-e has a paper on the back to increase its strength.
The signature says “Youshu Chikanobu Hitsu 楊州周延筆”.

There are two types of ukiyo-e, the type of the 17 period of the Meiji era when the “Naikoku kaiga kyōshinkai内国絵画共進会” was held, and the one of the 31 period of the Meiji era that was rubbed later.
This ukiyo-e is from the 31 period of the Meiji era.

For an earlier similar triptych see Claremont Colleges Digital Library: https://ccdl.claremont.edu/digital/collection/cyw/id/163/

Naikoku kaiga kyōshinkai内国絵画共進会
A government-run exhibition held in 1882 (Meiji 15) and 1984(Meiji 17 period). The Meiji Restoration and the subsequent trend of civilization weakened the art peculiar to Japan, but the momentum for the preservation of tradition was born. The beginning was the success of the “National Industrial Exhibition” held in 1877 and the Ryuikekai (organized by Sano Tsunetami and others to appreciate and investigate antique art) movement founded in 1979.

Toyohara Chikanobu (豊原周延), better known to his contemporaries as Yōshū Chikanobu (楊洲周延), was a prolific woodblock artist of Japan’s Meiji period.
Chikanobu signed his artwork “Yōshū Chikanobu”(楊洲周延). This was his “art name”. The artist’s “real name” was Hashimoto Naoyoshi (橋本直義); and it was published in his obituary.
Many of his earliest works were signed “studio of Yōshū Chikanobu” (楊洲齋周延) Yōshū-sai Chikanobu; a small number of his early creations were simply signed “Yōshū” (楊洲). At least one triptych from 1879 exists signed “Yōshū Naoyoshi” (楊洲直義).
No works have surfaced that are signed either “Toyohara Chikanobu” or “Hashimoto Chikanobu”.