Looking for Help Reading Japanese

[gabbatemarco]

Hi, I just bought these Japanese Ink Drawings and was curious about what they might be, who made them, how old they are, etc. They look to be on rice paper and each page is about 8-1/2" x 11". The last piece in the photos is 10-1/4" x 7-3/4" and is written in pencil and looks to be signed by Toyohiro. Any Help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance.

Link to photos:

https://picasaweb.google.com/gianfra...eat=directlink

[SuddenOsprey]

I don't know anything about the first set, looks modern to me though. The last piece, however, appears to be a surimono (privately published print) with the signature of "Toyohiro ga". I assume you don't mean the work is done in pencil-- it appears to be a print.

Surimono were most often produced for New Year's (indeed, you can see this includes a hagoita, traditional New Year's item, and the first line reads 歳旦), commissioned by poetry groups for exchanging with friends and other poets. Note that these were PRINTS, and multiple (sometimes hundreds or even thousands) impressions were produced at the time.

Utagawa Toyohiro (1773-1828) was active during the middle Edo period, but surimono were very popular with foreign collectors and many were reproduced from entirely new blocks during the early 20th century. Some of these are excellent reproductions, and it is difficult to tell the difference between the prints produced during the original period of production and the newer ones without the ability to closely compare them in person.

In addition, sometimes more famous artists' signatures were added to prints as a way to sell them for higher prices during the modern era. I recommend you look around for examples of Toyohiro's surimono (many books have been published on surimono in English in recent years) and see if you can find another impression of this design to compare it with.