Woodblock Print Titled "Fortune Teller" By Japanese Artist Wada Sanzo, Part Of The Series Showa Shokugyō E-Zukishi, 1943.

 

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Dimensions, Paper 16.5 X 11.5 Inches. All Measurements Are Approximate. Surface Wear And Aging. Some Wear And Stains On The Edges. Very Nice Preserved Colors And Tones! Sold As Is.

Woodblock Print Titled "Fortune Teller" By Japanese Artist Wada Sanzo, Part Of The Series "Japanese Vocations In Pictures" (Showa Shokugyō E-Zukishi), Created Between 1938 And 1943.

Sanzo Wada (和田 三造, Wada Sanzō; 3 March 1883 To 22 August 1967) Was A Japanese Painter And Costume Designer Who Won The Academy Award For Best Costume Design For His Work On The Jidaigeki Film Gate Of Hell (1953). Wada Reorganized The Japan Standard Color Association Into The Japan Color Research Laboratory In 1945, And Served As Its President.

Below Are The Translated Artist Commentaries For The First And Second Editions Of The Print.

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[First Edition, 1940, Published By Nishinomiya Shoin]

The Mainstreet Fortune Teller

For A Fee Of Fifty Sen Fortunes Are Told In Such Diverse Areas As Marriage, Occupation, Lost Items, Missing Persons, Illness, And The Rise And Fall Of The Stockmarket, By Means Of Reading, Physiognomy, Fortune Telling, And Onomancy.

At A Loss And In Dire Need They Run To This Place Asking Anything That Is On Their Minds.

But What Are The Conditions For Trusting This Spokesman? First, Half Of His Hair Needs To Be Grey, And He Needs To Be Very Old. He Definitely Shouldn't Wear Western Clothes. And Even If The Color Is Faded, A Kimono With One's Family Crest And A Hakama Are Considered As Absolutely Necessary Parts Of The Outfit. However, Wearing Chinese Or Korean Clothing Seems To Be A Way To Excite People's Curiosity Even More.

What Is Even More Interesting Is That The Buyer, That Is, The Person Who Seeks Fortune-Telling, Forgets That They Paid Fifty Sen And Put Themselves Completely At The Mercy Of The Fortune Teller.

From: A Collection of Japanese Prints (日本の版画コレクション) by Irwin Lavenberg . University Of Oregon, USA. https://www.uoregon.edu/

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[Second Edition, C. 1950, Published By Kyoto Hangain]

A Fortune-Teller

It Is Very Common To See One Or Two Fortune-Tellers In The Precincts Of A Shinto Shrine Or A Buddhist Temple. Many People Who Are Not Well Educated Are Apt To Be Enthralled By Such Superstition, And They Consult The Fortune-Teller When Their Wish To Know In Regard To Change Of Residence, Marriage, Loan Of Money, Change Of Job, Trip And In Fact Nearly All The Matters Of Their Daily Lives.

Most Of The Fortune-Tellers Open Their Road-Side Shops In The Evening. Judging By His Clothing, The Husband Seems To Be A Merchant, And He May Have Asked The Fortune-Teller To Divine What Will Become Of His Business. The Fortune-Teller Is Trying To Find The Means By His Divining Rods.

Depicted By Sanzo Wada. Printed By KYOTO-HANGA-IN.

From: A Collection of Japanese Prints (日本の版画コレクション) by Irwin Lavenberg . University Of Oregon, USA. https://www.uoregon.edu/

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