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“Mosquito-Net” (Kaya), 1797.
Ōban, nishiki-e, 37.6 × 24.8 cm.
Musée national des Arts asiatiques – Guimet, Paris.
“Parody of the Procession of a Korean Ambassador” (Mitate Tōjin gyōretsu), c. 1797–1798. Ōban, seven sheets, nishiki-e. The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago.
Let us look at some of these marvellous prints.
Series of the Large Heads:
Among the prints dedicated to women, there is a series of some one hundred prints, the collection of the Large Heads, where the head of a woman is depicted almost life-sized with a part of the upper torso. These prints, in which the head is always depicted with a traditional hieratic quality featuring the fine arched eyebrows and the typical beauty so highly prized in Japan, distinguish themselves through the bit of the dress seen covering the shoulders and bust of these women, or by a fan or a screen which they hold in their fingertips. Their dimensions and print quality are admirable, and the embossing sets off the white of a chrysanthemum, of a cherry blossom petal against a blue or mauve dress, or the white of the pattern in a border, and creates a trompe-l’œil with the relief of its embroidery. These prints of the Large Heads, done for the most part around 1795, are interesting not only for their beauty, but for the information they reveal about the imitations, the plagiarism, and the thefts of the artist’s signature by his colleagues: Utamaro, as a warning to the public against the counterfeits circulating under his name, signed this series “the real Utamaro”.
Nishiki-e* in seven panels
These works made up of seven contiguous sheets are not numerous, but among them should be mentioned:
Parody of the Procession of a Korean Ambassador:
A long line of women on foot and on horseback are bearing one of their own on a litter resembling a shrine: all the women are wearing strange, pointed green hats and harmonious dresses, in which the blue, green, mauve, and yellow recall the decoration on Chinese green family porcelain, hues which so greatly influenced the watercolours of the Japanese masters leading up to Utamaro.
Nishiki-e* in six panels
The Six Tamagawa:
Women walking in the countryside, where a child is wading in a stream near a washerwoman beating her laundry with a stick.
Nishiki-e* in five panels
The series of works composed of five contiguous sheets has many more examples:
The Boys’ Feast Day:
A woman leans over an album, near another woman, a brush in her hand ready to paint: both are being watched by a child in a room where a revolving easel with a little parasol holds a kakemono* representing, in blood red, the terrible Shōki, the exterminator of devils, a kind of patron saint of boys. This exterminator of devils has his own legend. Chung Kwei, the hunter of devils, in one of the favourite myths of the Chinese, was reputed to be a supernatural protector of the emperor Xuanzong (713–762) against the evil spirits who haunted his palace. His story is told as follows in the E honko jidan: the emperor Genso came down with a fever. In his delirium, he saw a little demon who was stealing the flute of his mistress Yokiki (Yang Guifei) at the same moment a hardy spirit appeared, seized the demon and ate it. When the emperor asked him his name, he answered: “I am Shinshi Shōki, of the mountain of Shunan. During the reign of emperor Koso (Kao tsu) of the Butoku period (618–627), I was unable to reach the rank to which I aspired in the high office of the State. Out of shame I killed myself. But at my funeral, I was posthumously promoted, by imperial order, to a high honour and now I am trying to do justice to the favour which was bestowed upon me. This is why I want to exterminate all the demons in the land.” Genso woke up; his illness had disappeared. He then ordered Godoshi to paint a picture of the exterminator of devils and to distribute copies of it throughout the empire.
Year-end Fair at Asakusa:
The market which is held during the last ten days of the year takes place before the great gate of the temple of Asakusa. A crowd is walking through mountains of tubs, sifters, and household utensils, over the top of which here and there are visible, carried on heads, New Year’s day presents typical of Japan: a lobster on a bed of ferns, an object made of twisted straw to keep devils out of the houses, etc. In the midst of the crowd, two little girls avoid being separated and lost by each holding one end of a length of cloth tightly in her hands, and a small boy lifts a little pagoda over his head, a toy pagoda for sale.
“Year-End Fair at Asakusa” (Asakusa toshi no ichi), c. 1800–1801.
Ōban, five sheets, nishiki-e, 38.7 × 25.2 (left), 38.5 × 24.8 cm (2), 38.5 × 75.1 cm (3–5). The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago.
The Rainstorm:
This shows a torrential, drowning rain laying waste to the countryside. A young girl plugs her ears at the noise of the far-off thunder. A boy in tears holds his little arms up to his mother, imploring her to pick him up. Umbrellas are being hastily opened all around, and in the central panel, a pair of lovers run along under the same umbrella, the girl in the same charming running motion as the Atlas of the Tuileries Garden in Paris. The couple are being followed closely by a friend. This scene offers a surprisingly real, understandable, and, one could even say, ethereal, depiction of people engaged in a frantic race.
House-cleaning:
Servants in their morning dress are doing a major house cleaning, which takes place around the end of December. Amongst overturned furniture and screens, they are chasing away mice in a great flurry of brooms, feather dusters, and mop water. The fourth panel represents a woman trying to lift a sleepy young man onto his feet because it is time for him to leave. As she pulls him up by the underarms, he makes limp attempts to attach his sword to his belt. The fifth panel shows an old man being awakened, so ridiculous in his contortions and stretching that one woman runs away laughing.
Also worthy of note:
The Street in Edo Suruga-chō, in front of the Silk Shops:
Shopfronts covered by curtains, under the raised portions of which can be seen, in the background, the display of fabrics spread before the purchasers seated in a circle on the floor.
The Flowers of the Five Festivals:
Five women, under a violet canopy sown with cherry blossoms, have in a vase or a hanging urn flowering branches of the festival season.
The Stroll of Noblewomen and Children, under blue Parasols:
Behind the noble women and children walks a domestic carrying a lunch pail in a sack and a cask of sake.
The Musicians:
Five women are kneeling on a purple mat, playing the shamisen*, the biwa*, the komabue*, the koto*, and the kotsuzumi*. It is a most charming composition surmounted by an ornamental band in excellent taste, pink and scattered with white cherry blossoms.
Porters:
In the street, women, children, and, in the middle, on the back of the porters, clothing trunks containing deliveries made by the shops (work probably composed of five panels).
Opening Night of the Sumida:
In a night sky filled with stars, fireworks burst, and on the water, a multitude of women’s boats crowds one another as the boatmen quarrel.
Women on a Terrace:
Japanese women are seated on a terrace on the bank of a river on the opposite shore of which is a large bridge on stilts in a green landscape. Lying, sitting on their heels, and kneeling, these women read, take tea, and play music.
Niwaka Festival Performers in a Yoshiwara Tea-House (Hikite-jaya no nikawa-shū), c. 1800–1801.
Ōban