Description

A color lithograph patriotic fan sample print, likely created between 1939 and 1941 during the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945)*, depicting a singer and her accompanist during a radio broadcast. The banner on the stand to the right tells us the song is "Patriotic Girl" (愛国娘, Aikoku musume). "Patriotic Girl," a gunka (military song), was composed in 1939, with lyrics by poet and lyricist Satō Sōnosuke 佐藤惣之助 (1890-1942) and music composed by Tetsuo Suzuki 鈴木正次 (1903-1977), under the penname Wada Jūrō 和田十郎. The second and fourth stanzas of the song are seen to the left of the singer.  A transcription of the stanzas with a lose translation follows.

See IHL. Cat. #2679 for another fan print sample bearing the song "Patriotic Girl."

The print carries the sample catalog number そ印 参百六拾貳號 (so in sanbyaku roku jū ni gō [362]). These numbered fan prints (uchiwa-e 団扇絵) were gathered into a sample book (uchiwa mihonchō 団扇見本帳, or uchiwa gachō 団扇画帖.) to show wholesale customers the range of available designs.

Note: Transcriptions and translations are my own unless otherwise noted.

* The Second Sino-Japanese War is referred to in China as the "War of Resistance Against Japan."

[1] Transcription appearing on Mojin.com https://mojim.com/usy116688x1x4.htm [accessed 11-1-23]