About This Print
This print is one of at least twenty prints created by the painter/manga artist Kondō Kōichiro (1884–1962) and the poet/journalist Kenkabō Inoue (1870-1934) in 1930 which pair a senryū, mostly written by Kenkabō, with an illustration by Kondō. In this print the senryū partially reads 鎧着〇交〇へ〇る〇〇い - and the illustration pictures a senior officer reprimanding a soldier for wearing the wrong uniform.
About The Series Senryū manga
In 1930 the painter/manga artist Kondō Kōichiro (1884–1962) and the poet/journalist Kenkabō Inoue (1870-1934) collaborated on a series of at least twenty woodblock prints containing Kenkabō's senryū (short humorous verse) along with Kondō's illustrations, titled Senryū manga 川柳漫画. The prints seem to have been grouped together in two or more portfolios rather than sold individually and were published by 川柳漫画刊行会 Senryū Manga Kankōkai, most likely a creation of the two artists.
The National Diet Library has several of the prints from this series in their collection along with images of a portfolio cover and table of contents (although the table of contents does not match the prints they show as being in the portfolio.) Go to http://dl.ndl.go.jp/info:ndljp/pid/1015589 to see their holding.
click on image to enlarge
table of contents
日本美術院同人近藤浩一路氏畫
柳樽寺井上剣花坊氏撰書
川柳漫畫第二集豫定
followed by the listing of four senryū
以上
{一部賣定價金壹圓貳拾錢 繼續會員に限り
金 壹 圓} click on image to enlargecolophon sticker from back of portfolio明治五年六月廿日印刷明治五年六月廿一日発行(pricing information)東京市下谷区中根岸七十二番地反印刷人 武田基一東京市下谷区中根岸七十二番地〇彩堂内発行所 川柳漫刊行會followed by contact information for publisher
What are Senryū?
Sources: Light Verse from the Floating World, Makoto Ueda, Columbia University Press, 1999, p. 32-33; Senryu Japanese Satirical Verses, R. H. Blyth, The Hokuseido Press, 1949.
A senryū is the expression of a moment of psychological insight into the life of human beings; nature is either absent or a mere background. Like haiku, it is a short unrhymed verse with the 5–7–5 syllable pattern. Unlike haiku, however, it requires no word implying the season of the year, as it draws less on nature than on human nature. Whereas a haiku poet in general tries to capture a moment of insight into the mysterious workings of the natural world, a writer of senryū keenly studies various aspects of the human condition and reports his findings in a humorous way, the humor sometimes crossing over to the territory of satire.
The word senryū is derived from the name of a person, Karai Senryū (1718–1790), who lived in the downtown district of Edo. His real name was Karai Hachiemon, and he made a living as the head official of his ward. In 1757, for unknown reasons, he decided to make a debut as a master of maekuzuke, a verse-writing game played by a good many people in Japan at that time. Senryū, which literally means “river willow,” was the professional name he adopted on becoming a master.
The revitalization and modernization of senryū in the early 1900s is credited to two journalists who worked for the daily newspaper Nihon Shimbun. The first, Sakai Kuraki (1869–1945), promoted the restoration of the free spirit of senryū. His successor at the paper, Inoue Kenkabō (1870–1934), encouraged senryūwriters to take up topics characteristic of the emerging new society through his column called “Shindai yanagidaru” (Yanagidaru on Modern Topics).
Less than one year after the inauguration of Inoue's column, the number of contributors of senryū to the paper had increased to more than three hundred. Soon senryū groups were being organized all over Japan, many of them starting their own magazines. By 1912, the number of such magazines published in Japan had reached fifty. Many major newspapers, weeklies, and monthlies also came to devote space to their readers’ senryū. The trend accelerated with time so that in 1935 of the more than two hundred national and local newspapers almost all had space dedicated to senryū.
Source: http://archive.li/f08u7
![]() | Inoue Kenkabō (1870-1934), writer of senryū (short, humorous verse), was born in Yamaguchi Prefecture in 1870. His real name was Inoue Koichi. After working as a substitute elementary school teacher and a reporter for a local newspaper, he moved to Tokyo in 1900 and began writing the arts column for the magazine, Myogi. Three years later, he joined the Nihon Shimbun newspaper. Using the pen name, Kenkabō, he began a column called Shindai yanagidaru, which advocated a new style of senryū. In 1905, he founded a circle known as Ryūsonji Senryū Kai, which brought out its own magazine, Senryū. After retiring from Nihon Shimbun, Kenkabō continued to run the senryū sections of the Kokumin and Yomiuri newspapers and resurrected Senryū in 1912, renaming it Taisho Senryū, |
Print Details
IHL Catalog | #1553 | ||
Title/Description | unread [Senior officer gives subordinate a tongue lashing for wearing the wrong uniform] 鎧着〇交〇へ〇る〇〇い [partial transcription of senryū] | ||
Series | Senryū manga 川柳漫画 | ||
Artist | Kondō Koichirō (1884–1962) | ||
Signatures |
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Seal | none | ||
Date | 明治五年六月廿日印刷 Showa 5th year 6th month, 20th day, printed 明治五年六月廿一日発行 Showa 5th year 6th month, 20th day, issued (dates are taken from the table of contents of the portfolio in the collection of the National Diet Library) | ||
Edition | first and only | ||
Publisher | 川柳漫画刊行会 Senryū Manga Kankōkai | ||
Printer | 印刷人武田基一 printer Kiichi Takeda | ||
Impression | excellent | ||
Colors | excellent | ||
Condition | excellent | ||
Miscellaneous | | ||
Genre | senryū manga | ||
Format | chuban | ||
H x W Paper | 9 5/16 x 6 11/16 in. (23.7 x 17 cm) | ||
H x W Image | 9 1/16 x 6 1/2 in. (23 x 16.5 cm) | ||
Collections This Print | |||
Reference Literature |