Woodblock Translation Help Please

[Justin Grant]

I posted this before and received no response, and I really need some help.

 

I purchased a woodblock print from a well-known shop in the US. It was listed as being painted by Morita Kako (1870-1931). It is called Beetle on Narcissus (Picture below). However, when I search for the name Morita Kako, I see several other pieces of his work, but very little in terms of personal information.

 

My wife (this was her Christmas Present) started researching the artist and found that this work is also attributed to a Kako Tsuji and Tsuji Kako (1870-1931) with the same signature on the same work (found an old auction for the Beetle on Narcissus attributed to Kako Tsuji), and many other works in the same style with exactly the same signature. The Kako Tsuji and Tsuji Kako (either order) search produces a lot of information about him personally, but never ties the three names together.

Here is a picture attributed to the Kako Tsuji, it is titled Grasshopper on Flowering Plant.

 

To me, the signatures look identical, so I am asking if anyone can read these two and let me know what they actually read. I am not sure which of the 3 names is correct or if all three are correct. I don't know why I see 3 names for the same artist and no one in the art world (auction houses and galleries) seems to get this correct consistently.

 

I am turning to you to see if someone can help translate the signatures into a reading.

 

Thank you very much for your time and consideration. I appreciate it!

 

 

 

Justin

[Nobody]

The signature on the pictures is 華香 (森田華香 – seal). It reads Kakô (Morita Kakô) as you already know. This Kakô may be the same artist who made the woodblocks on the following page.

Ref. http://www.soumei.biz/114.html

 

I might be wrong, but I think that Tsuji Kakô (都路華香, 1871 – 1931) is another artist. Tsuji Kakô is a very big name, and his style and signature look different from your Kakô to me.

Ref. http://www.momat.go.jp/Honkan/Kako_Tsuji/index.html

Paintings; http://www.sarugallery.com/default.php? ... rt=p&ID=58

 

BTW, I found several English sites where paintings of Morita Kakô are wrongly explained that they are painted by Tsuji Kakô.

[Justin Grant]

Thank you very much Moriyama-sama!

 

I thought I read the seal properly, but my Japanese is not so good. You are correct when you say many English sites mislabel him. Here is one such site that sold the picture I now have long ago that attributes it to Kako Tsuji http://www.hanga.com/thumbs.cfm?ID=Tsuji&ID2=Kako . It does appear from what I read, Morita Kakô was an accomplished artist, and has works in several museums.

 

Thank you again for taking the time to help me. My wife will be pleased.