SHADING ON LOWEST BOUGH: Can't tell from the copies how the two colors (perhaps three or four which would mean three or four different color blocks) are sequenced in the printing. Is light color applied first then a dark shade of green or vice-versa? On prints "B", "C" and "D" it
seems that a thin yellow tint is applied over the light green. In print "A" it seems
that the darker color was applied last and no thin tint was used. If after the first prints were produced, Koitsu or Teiichi (or whoever was in charge) decided that the leaves should reflect sunlight it is quite possible that a new carver was called on to either recut the yellow block or make a new one to include the yellow tints found on the leaves in later prints. Apparently, Katsumura was not called upon (and there are any number of reasons, personal, financial, other commitments, etc.) and Harada did so. The amount of yellow to be applied was a function of the printer and perhaps Matsushita (again for whatever reason) was no longer
available and Ito did the job.
Contributed by ukiyo-e scholar Philip H. Roach, Jr., moonlighting/slumming here for the noble but doomed purpose of helping our members combat the Attention Deficit from which we Shin Hanga lightweights apparently suffer.
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