Posted by John Fiorillo on December 10, 1998 at 12:34:23:
In Reply to: Re: Kakihan ("written seal, signature") posted by Hans Olof Johansson on December 10, 1998 at 08:58:40:
: Philippe, John:
: In my opinion, there is nothing odd about the kakihan of the author of a poem appearing on a surimono, like in John's Hokuei example. This could have been done in order to point out that the poem was reproduced in the handwriting of the author himself. Interestingly enough, there is also another print with the eyeball kakihan of Nakamura Utaemon III: a self-portrait where he plays two roles, a man and his wife, at the same time (by using a painted fan for the woman's face). The print is part of a series or hexaptych, where Ashikuni designed the other portraits (Keyes & Mizushima: The Theatrical World of Osaka Prints, plate 11). Probably, this kakihan has been added to indicate that Utaemon really did draw the picture by his own hand.
: According to Keyes and Mizushima, the butterfly mark, also referred to by John, was Enjaku's personal kakihan. If Enjaku was identical to the actor Nakamura Enjaku, as has been claimed, the use of the kakihan was perhaps used for a similar reason: to mark that these prints were designed by an actor, and not by a professional painter.
: But why does the kakihan of a professional painter, like Toyokuni, appear on prints that he designed? These kakihan were clearly printed, carved into the keyblock like the signature, not added by hand. Was there something special about these designs? One theory - perhaps far-fetched - would be that they were marks for the drawing only, and never intended to be reproduced on the final print, though they occasionally slipped through. Maybe the use of a kakihan was a way to assure the publisher that the design was made by the master himself, and not by one of his co-workers in the studio?
Follow-up from JF:
Hello, Hans Olof.
I think you are claiming too much significance for a kakihan. Artists, poets, actors, samurai, politicians, businessmen, etc. frequently used many kinds of personal signs, seals, and emblems (in addition to family, clan, and studio seals). They did not necessarily signify anything in particular (although there might have been isolated examples where the seal was used only in special circumstances by the individual). Kakihan were only alternate personal seals or marks used for many purposes. I rather doubt that Utaemon’s use of his eye kakihan was meant to indicate that he indeed inscribed the poem that was carved for the surimono I cited earlier (though he might very well have done so). I also rather doubt that the use of this eye kakihan on the other print design you mentioned was used to indicate that Utaemon was, indeed, the artist (and not some student). Although your suggestion is interesting, you seem to be saying that the purpose of the kakihan was to stand it for some kind of "authenticity" seal, much as Utamaro Kitagawa signed a few of his prints with the character reading "shômei" (meaning "genuine name"). I do not believe that was the purpose of a kakihan. Finally, I do not think the kakihan in Toyokuni’s prints were some kind of preliminary seals not meant to be included in the finished print. They were just personal seals.
By the way, Keyes recognizes that the actor Enjaku might not be the same person as the artist Enjaku because the actor was in Edo during much of the active period of the artist Enjaku. I doubt they are one and the same person because I cannot see how an actor living in Edo could design portraits of actors performing in Osaka – how could he know what the productions were like (costumes, make-up, acting styles, special "mie," story line, new plot twists, etc.?).
Just for the sake of completeness, I will try here to tag the image of Utaemon’s kakihan of an eye. [This is my first try at using an image tag, so please excuse me if it does not work]