Reconstructing Series 23:
Osaka nishikie/ga shinwa/bun

Most prints in this groups were drawn by Sasaki Yoshitaki, followed by Hasegawa Sadanobu II.

Series 1
1. Osaka nishikiga shinbun

Tsuchiya remarks that the publisher and parodist Miyatake Gaikotsu (1867-1955) a publisher parodist, treated treated Series 2 Osaka nishikie shinbun prints together with prints in this series, and observes that some Series 2 prints are in fact entitled Osaka nishikiga shinbun like Series 1 prints. However, as she points out, the overall design of the two series is totally different, beginning with their borders and title cartouches.

It is somewhat ironic, then, that Tsuchiya should classify a "shinwa" variation of a Series 1 print as a Series 3 print -- simply on account of its title. As a result of our merging Series 3 into Series 2, the issue that Tsuchiya has been listing (in both Tsuchiya 1995 and Tsuchiya 2000) as a No. 16 will rejoin its family in Series 1. For further details, see the discussion of No. 16 under Series 3 below.

As a result of this move, Series 1 will be recognized as a "shinbun" series, some issues of which were later reprinted with "shinwa" in place of "shinbun" -- No. 16 being at least one example.

We will also acknowledge the existence of variations entitled simply Osaka nishikie on account of the space for "shinbun" or "shinwa" being blank -- the graphs for one term or the other having been chiselled off the block before printing.

Series 2
2. Osaka nishikie shinbun

Both Tsuchiya 1995 and 2000 list two issues in this series, Nos. 25 and 36, that have "shinwa" variants in Series 3. As a result of merging Series 3 into this series, the resulting Series 23 will be seen to have later "shinwa" variants of issues that most likely had "shinbun" on their first impressions. For further details, see the discussions of Nos. 6 and 36, and No. 25, under Series 3 below.

Series 3
3. Osaka nishikiga shinwa

Nos. 6 and 36 -- The image database on Tsuchiya 2000 shows a No. 6 and a No. 36 for Series 3. Both are also listed in the tables on Tsuchiya 2000 and in Tsuchiya 1995. However, the image file for No. 36 is the same as the image file for No. 6 -- a simple enough editorial oversight. Elsewhere on Tsuchiya 2000, in fact, there is an image file which shows both Nos. 6 and 36 in the "shinwa" series (Series 3). The two "shinwa" prints are identical to each other except for their number, and both are identical in design to No. 36 in the "shinbun" series (Series 2). In fact, No. 36 with "shinwa" appears to be a later impression of No. 36 with "shinbun". And No. 6 with "shinwa" appears to be an impression in which the ridges that would have printed the single graph for "30" have vanished from the block -- probably through an accident when recarving that part of the block. The graph for "30" appears immediatly below, and very close to, the graph for "bun". In the process of chiselling out "bun" and embedding a plug of wood with "wa", the graph for "30" could have been knicked. At some point while producing the "shinwa" prints, parts of the graph could easily have broken off. The rest of the graph for "30" would simply have been chiselled away, leaving only the graph for "6". So the last batch of No. 36 prints came out No. 6.

No. 16 -- This print is clearly not part of either Series 2 or 3. It is identical in design to, and merely a "shinwa" variant of, No. 16 in Series 1. When merging Series 3 into Series 2, we will return this orphaned print to its kin in Series 1.

No. 25 -- The table in Tsuchiya 2000 shows No. 25, which is not in the image database, in parentheses. A print of identical design and number is associated with Series 2. The title cartouche is done in such a way that part of the "shinbun" is mostly obliterated by the figure of a man. Only the top part of "shin" can be seen, and the "bun" is entirely hidden behind the man. Because the image of the man covers the lower part of the title cartouche, the issue number is written vertically to the left of the title, rather than below the title as on other prints in both Series 2 and 3. Hence it is impossible to determine if the graph that should follow "shin" would be "bun" or "wa". This is probably why No. 25 is bracketed in the table on Tsuchiya 2000 but not in Tsuchiya 1995 -- and why it was omitted from the image database in Tsuchiya 2000.

Series 23
Osaka nishikie/ga shinbun / shinwa

Merging Series 3 into Series 2

Even without confirming the existence of a "shinwa" variation of No. 25, the "shinbun" / "shinwa" variations of No. 36 qualify it as a key through which to link Series 3 with Series 2. By merging Series 3 into Series 2, we reconstruct a unified series that came to have "shinbun/shinwa" in addition to "e/ga" variations.

That the two series belong together is visually suggested by examining the two sets of issue numbers and their union. The series of numbers very neatly dovetail, one into the other, resulting in a single series which, as we will see, makes more sense in the light of how it becomes possible to explain the replacement of "shinbun" by "shinwa" in latter impressions of the issues in this (and other) series.

Series 2 (shinbun) 15 issues (14+1)
11, 25, 30, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 46, 55, unnumbered diptych

Series 3 (shinwa) 18 issues (17+1)
1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 16, 19, (25), 36, 49, unnumbered single print

Series 23 = Series 2 U Series 3 (shinbun/shinwa) = 29 issues (27+2)
1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 19, 25, 30, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 46, 49, 55, unnumbered diptych, unnumbered single print

Note -- Issues in italics were published by Awabun. Most other issues were published by Ishiwa.

Series 23 has no No. 6 and only one No. 36 because the three varieties of this issue conflate as one No. 36 (green). The two possible variants of No. 25 (blue) similarly conflate. No 16. (red) is omitted because it is really a variation of, and therefore conflates with, No. 16 in Series 1. The union of known numbered issues in Series 2 and 3 is consequently four prints fewer (27) than the sum of the number of such issues listed in the tables (31-4). The two unnumbered issues raise the total number of known issues in the new series to 29.

The results of the above considerations are shown below. The previously shown tables for Series 2 and 3 are repeated for comparison. See Censoring "shinbun" from Osaka news nishikie, immediately following this section, for a fuller discussion of the treatment of "shinbun" in later impressions of all Osaka news nishikie.

General Introduction