Original Wada Sanzo Woodblock Print Coal Vendor Sumiya Charcoal Merchant Showa c.1954 14.375"W LS#032

Wada Sanzō (1883–1967) — Coal Vendor (炭屋, Sumiya), from Zoku Shōwa Shokugyō E-zukushi (Continuing Japanese Vocations in Pictures)

Vintage Japanese Shōwa Era, c. 1954

The postwar continuation, Zoku Shōwa Shokugyō E-zukushi, (Continuing Japanese Vocations in Pictures) was published from 1954 to 1958 by Kyoto Hanga-in, the original publisher's reorganized company, adding 24 designs to the prewar series of 48.

The scene is set at the threshold of a charcoal merchant's shop: one worker crouched over sorting binchotan charcoal into a flat basket tray, a second seated nearby at rest. Behind them, stacked barrels and crated boxes of ren-tan (formed coal briquettes) fill the background wall; a delivery handcart leans at left, a bicycle at right. The palette is characteristically restrained — grey, ochre, and soft blue-green — with Wada's fluid, watercolor-like line capturing the gritty physicality of a trade that was central to urban domestic life in mid-century Japan. Title cartouche upper right: 炭屋 (Sumiya); signature 三造 with red artist's seal.

• Title: 炭屋 (Sumiya — Coal Vendor / Charcoal Merchant)
• Artist: Wada Sanzō (和田三造, 1883–1967)
• Series: Zoku Shōwa Shokugyō E-zukushi (続昭和職業絵尽 — Continuing Japanese Vocations in Pictures)
• Publisher: Kyoto Hanga-in, c. 1954
• Format: Ōban yoko-e, approx. 14 3/8" W × 10 1/8" H (36.5 × 25.7 cm); color woodblock print on laid hosho washi