Print variations

The most conspicious and common variation of TNS prints involve the color scheme of the unfurled banner of the masthead.

The right and left ends of banners were differently colored, and the color combinations sometimes -- perhaps usually -- varied from edition to edition. Even when the same color combinations were used, the hues were often different. Consequently, many TNS prints have two, and some have more color combination variations.

There are several patterns, some less common, a few limited to one example.

The standard pattern involves two colors, one on the right, one on the left of the unfurled banner -- speaking in the direction that a print would be read. Exceptionally -- I have seen only one example -- is a variation in which the entire banner is a single color.

Also exceptionally -- in what might better be called a style variation -- is a single issue on which the banner is colored differently on the top and bottom rather than on the right and left.

Some colors are bright and saturated, others are lighter and even pastel. The printers appear to have enjoyed themselves coming up with combinations of colors that ranged from loud to quiet, garrish to subdued.

Two colors right and left

TNS-926a is a typical example of prints with colors on the right and left of the banner.

Two colors top and bottom

TNS-1047 is the only print which shows two colors running across the top and bottom edges of the banner. This is probably better regarded as a stylistic variation.

Two colors diagonally cornered

The colors of most banners fill the ends of the banner and fade away on the unfurled banner, often on a slant. The colors of some editions of TNS-445, however, are diagonally cornered lower right and upper left.

One solid color

One variation of TNS-428 is exceptional in that the entire banner is a single color.

Coverage

Lateral coverage of the pigments somewhat varies. In extreme cases, the two colors practically converge in the middle, leaving very little of the banner unpigmented. TNS-861 has one such a variation. Some variations of TNS-822 are also extreme in their coverage.

In the TNS series, publisher particulars and carver signatures are usually printed in white cartouches. Some prints also have editions with a yellow carver cartouche, and one also has a variation on which both the publisher and carver cartouches are yellow.

Carver signatures are also usually printed on white cartouches, but a number of prints also have editions with both yellow and white carver cartouches. When yellow and white editions occur, the yellow editions appear to be earier, judging from their generally superior registration and other such details.

White/yellow, white/white

The publisher/carver cartouche colors of TNS-708 and several other issues have white/yellow and white/white variations.

Blue/yellow, white/white

The publisher and carver cartouches of TNS-822 are blue and yellow in the Gusokuya editions but white and white in the Tsujibun editions.

A number of prints show conspicuous color-scheme variations.

Lavender and purple doves

TNS-832 has several striking variations that play with the colors of the doves.

Later editions of issue in the TNS series was edited in response to complaints from the family of the subjects of the story.

Name cartouche deleted, story rewritten

The original edition of TNS-851 was republished in a new edition with a revised story and modified picture, to accommodate a complaint from the family of the persons named in the original version.

Editions of some prints show changes in minor details.

Framed box

The box in the lower left corner of one edition of TNS-185 is framed, whereas in most editions the box is frameless.

Blood on sword and neck, other color variations

One variation of TNS-873 has blood on the culprit's sword and neck, which are bloodless in other variations.

Purple horizon

The Gusokuya variation of TNS-919a has a lot of bright purple, including a spash of purple on the horizon.