JAPANESE PRINTS
A MILLION QUESTIONS
TWO MILLION MYSTERIES
Ukiyo-e Prints浮世絵版画Port Townsend, Washington |
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A CLICKABLE INDEX/GLOSSARY (Hopefully this will be an ever changing and growing list.)
Mom thru Nashi |
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TERMS FOUND ON THIS PAGE:
Momiji-gari, Momoyamajidai, Mon, Monogatari, Murasaki, Murasaki bōshi, Murasaki Shikibu, The Mustrard Seed Garden Painting Manual, Myōseki, Naga-bakama, Nagasaki, Nagasaki-e, Naginata, Nakamura Fukusuke I, Nakamura Shikan, Nakamura Utaemon III, Nakanochō, Namazu, Nanushi and Nashi
紅葉狩, 桃山時代, 紋, 物語, 紫, 紫牟子, 紫絵, 紫式部, 長袴, 長持, 長崎, 長崎絵, 投げ頭巾, 薙刀, 中村福助, 中村芝翫, 三代中村歌右衛門, 中野町, 鯰, 名主 and 梨
もみじがり, ももやまじだい, もん, ものがたり, むらさき, むらさきぼうし, むらさきえ, むらさきしきぶ, かいしえんがでん, みょうせき, ながばかま, ながもち, ながさき, ながさきえ, なげずきん, なぎなた, なかむら.ふくすけ, なかむらしガン, さんだい.なかむら.うたえもん, なかのちょう, なまず, なぬし and なし,
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Momiji-gari |
紅葉狩
もみじがり |
Whenever two American
upper middle-class individuals or families meet each other for the first
time and if they converse long enough eventually one will ask the other
"Have you ever driven through Vermont (
バーモント)
To the left is a detail taken from a Yoshiiku print. While it would appear to be a maple leaf viewing I wouldn't swear to it. This image was sent to us from our generous contributor Eikei. Thanks Eikei! |
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Momoyamajidai |
桃山時代 ももやまじだい |
Momoyama period (1583-1602) |
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Mon |
紋
もん |
A family crest or coat of arms. Other terms used for such crests are jomon (定紋 or じょうもん) and kamon (家紋 or かもん) 1, 2
In 1668 a law was promulgated which, among other things, prohibited the display of family crests on the sliding doors of newly built residences in Edo belonging to the hatamoto (旗本 or はたもと), i.e, the samurai in the direct employ of the shogun. But it wasn't just the hatamoto who were affected. So were the townspeople: "Lacquering such parts as the front sill of the tokonoma and frames [of doors and windows], and affixing family crests to sliding screens are forbidden. Note: there should be no decorative gold and silver crests or paintings inside the main room [zashiki 座敷]."
Souce and quote: "Edo Architecture and Tokugawa Law", by William H. Coaldrake, Monumenta Nipponica, Vol. 36, No. 3. (Autumn, 1981), footnote 13, pp. 270-2.
By the 19th century only certain daimyo were allowed to affix their family crests to their front gate. (p.274)
These rules are actually not so surprising since there seem to have been edicts governing every aspect of life. However, such restrictions were only as good as the power behind them. Hence, many were basically ignored. I can't vouch for this one.
According to footnote 3 in Donald Shively's article 'Sumptuary Regulation and Status in Early Tokugawa Japan’ published in the Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies, Vol. 25, (1964 - 1965), p. 159 - if I am understanding it correctly - it was standard practice to apply the family crest in five places on the kosode and that this is still the custom today. Shively cites Seiroku Noma as his source. |
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Monogatari |
物語 ものがたり |
A story, tale or legend as in the Heike Monogatari (平家物語 or へいけものがたり) or the Genji Monogatari (源氏物語 or げんじものがたり) |
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Murasaki |
紫
むらさき |
Murasaki or shikon (しこん): A fugitive purple dye which often fades to gray. Like so many other dyes this one is fascinating if only for the discovery of its original properties. The leaves are green and the flowers are white, but the roots...the roots are another story and the source of this colorant. Some sources say it is native to Japan while others say that it was the Chinese who first used its dyes.
The cell color to the left and below is murasaki purple.
Don't forget that color descriptions are not exact. As there are many shades of green or blue for example, there are many slight variations within each of the colors shown here which may or may not conform precisely to your own perceptions of what they should be. |
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According to Amanda Mayer Stinchecum in Kosode: 16Th-19th Century Textiles from the Nomura Collection: 16th-19th Century Textiles from the Nomura Collection (pp. 202-3) the Lithospermum erythrorhizon is a perennial plant which grows in mountains and fields to 30 to 60 cm. The roots were "...harvested in the fall, dried and stored for several months before use." These contain shikonin which is a naphthaquinone derivative. For optimum effect the plant should be at least three to four years old.
Ideally the roots should be soaked and pounded in 60° water in winter. The intensity of the dye ranges from a keshi murasaki or lilac gray to a waka murasaki or light purple to kōki murasaki or dark purple. The color when used for fabrics will deepen when stored away from light for up to one year.
In England this plant is known as the gromwell.
The photo of the murasaki flowers to the left was sent to us by Shu Suehiro. It was taken on May 29, 2004 at the Uji Botanical Garden (宇治市植物公園) in Kyoto prefecture. According to Shu it is difficult to find this plant in the wild.
Shu runs a wonderful Japanese botanical web site. We would urge you to visit it at http://www.botanic.jp/index.htm. |
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Murasaki bōshi |
紫牟子
むらさきぼうし |
A silk cloth worn by an onnagata at the top of the forehead where the shaved forelocks would have been. Often the cloth is purple, but not always. Cautionary note: Not all onnagata are portrayed on prints wearing this cloth. 1
Professor Leiter has an informative entry on the murasaki bōshi in his New Kabuki Encyclopedia: A Revised Adaptation of kabuki jiten (p. 423). He translates it literally as 'purple headgear'. According to Leiter Torii Shōshichi was the first onnagata to wear this in the 17th century. "Although boshi now means a hat, it did not when this term was coined." Originally this attachment to the wig was worn during special ceremonies ostensibly to keep dust of the actor's forelock. However, after they were forced to shave that part of their hair handsome young actors began wearing "...a fashionable man's silk band (yarō bōshi) on their heads in order to maintain their physical attractiveness. This proved effective as it not only made the actor's face seem smaller, but introduced a nice variation between the whit skin and the black hair." |
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Murasaki-e |
紫絵
むらさきえ |
A category of pictures in which purple was used extensively while the use of red was avoided.
The image to the left is by Eishi and was sent to us by a very generous contributor. Thanks! |
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Murasaki Shikibu |
紫式部 むらさきしきぶ |
The author of The Tale of Genji. |
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This 11th century masterpiece by Lady Murasaki (ca. 973-1014) is considered by many sources to the first great novel written anywhere. Not only that it has remained an adored classic among the Japanese through the centuries and has infiltrated many of the various layers of the culture.
Almost nothing is known about the life of this author. She is believed to have died in ca. 1014. She was born into a family which had turned increasingly to literary pursuits. Even though the study of Chinese poetry was mainly a masculine domain she showed a precocious ability in this field. In 999 she was married to Fujiwara Nobutaka who was many years her senior. Two years later she was a widow. In 1006 or 1007 she entered the service of one of the major consorts of the emperor Ichijō. There she was surrounded by witty and brilliant talents who must have stimulated her latent abilities.
Source: The Princeton Companion to Classical Japanese Literature, by Earl Miner, Hiroko Odagiri and Robert E. Morrell, 1985, p. 202.
Even the name, Murasaki Shikibu, is somewhat shrouded in mystery.
"She seems to have been known during her lifetime as Tō no Shikibu... Tō, the Sino-Japanese reading for the character fuji or 'wisteria,' clearly designates the Fujiwara family, to a cadet branch of which she was born. Shikibu refers to the Shikibushō or Ministry of Rites, in which both her father and brother held office.
Two theories have been advanced to explain the Murasaki element: that because it means 'purple' it refers to the wisteria of her family name; and that it derives from the name of Genji's great love in the Genji monogatari."
Note that very few names of women from that period are known to us today.
Source and quote from: Kodansha Encyclopedia of Japan entry by Edward G. Seidensticker (vol. 5, p. 267). |
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The Mustard Seed Garden Painting Manual |
芥子園画伝
かいしえんがでん
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There was very little cultural contact with China in the 18th century. That is why the publication in 1753 of "The Mustard Seed Garden Painting Manual" hit the Japanese marketplace with such a bang. There was a thirst among many Japanese artists for a clear understanding of Chinese painting. "It offered age-old principles, practical advice, dozens of actual pictures, and a might dose of encouragement.... it quickly became the philosophical bible of a new generation of painters who were already looking to China for inspiration and example."
I am mentioning this for two particular reasons: "Here is the first use of wood grain [ita-mokuhan] as a pattern, the first use of gradation printings [bokashi], the first use in prints of contrast of texture and color saturation: the result is printed textures that look like colored acquatint."
Source and quotes: Ehon: The Artist and the Book in Japan published by the New York Public Library and the University of Washington Press, 2006, p. 82.
A cultural phenomenon: Decades ago a great scholar told me that "The Mustard Seed Garden Painting Manual" was far more popular in Japan than it ever was in China. It first appeared there in 1679.
Like so many other ehon this was published in several volumes over several years - not to mention later editions. The examples to the left originally appeared in 1748. However, these probably are from a later date, but still from the original blocks. At our request our great contributor E. sent us this bird and flower page. Thanks E!
The detail of the pomegranate gives a sense of the care used to translate the Chinese version into a marketable Japanese commodity. |
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Myōseki |
名跡
みょうせき |
Most translations of myōseki as 'family name' do not even come close to the true usage of this term. In the West we have a number of practices that hardly exist in the East: kings and queens, the nobility, popes and even certain families are in the habit of naming new members after previous ones. The popes are the only ones among this grouping who rarely if ever have any blood relationship to their predecessors - unlike certain earlier periods - but who adopt their names all the same - of course, with the addition of the next sequential number. |
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In Japan there is a different practice: In sumo, the theater, and among courtesans it is considered an honor to have the name of a famous predecessor bestowed upon you. In the case of kabuki it often involved the adoption of an young trainee who lived up to expectatios. In the arts Hiroshige I is followed by his adopted son, Hiroshige II, who also married the master's daughter. Toyokuni II was the son-in-law of Toyokuni I.
The same succession lines were true of famous courtesans who were renowned for their beauty and their skills both on and off the mattress. Courtesans had only a few short years to reach the top, burn brightly and then dim only to be replaced by younger, more supple women. If a truly famous courtesan of one house attained a reputation comparable to that of another famous earlier beauty of that house the new one might be allowed to use the name of her predecessor.
If we practiced this in the West there probably would have been a Marilyn Monroe (マリリンモンロー) II or III, several Rembrandts or even have been cursed by a Beethoven (ベートーヴェン) V or VI by now. Thank goodness we haven't. Let's leave that custom to the Japanese who seem to do quite well with it - but not always.
One more note - and I am not absolutely positive about this - but the Jews never name children after their parents directly either for religious or superstitious reasons. I add that only because of the great variances between different cultures. All of this fascinates me.
The image to the left is a detail from a print by Eizan from the 1830s. It shows the courtesan Hanamurasaki. Cecilia Segawa Seigle in her Yoshiwara: The Glittering World of the Japanese Courtesan (pp. 127 and 128) noted: "Thus the last of the legitimate tayū was Hanamurasaki, whose name disappears after the New Year 1761..." Later she added: "One notes that the names Hanamurasaki and Komurasaki were immediately transformed into succession names of the lower-rank sancha in 1762 at the Corner Tamaya. Yet the hallowed tayū name Takao was never again used at any house after 1761. |
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Nagabakama |
長袴
ながばかま
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Long ceremonial trousers: To the left is a detail from a print by Toyokuni III. Although the figure is kneeling you can clearly see the length of the right pant leg. It would still be long and dragging even if he were standing.
The image to below is by Yoshiiku from 1867, but representing Shimizu Muneharo
(清水宗治 or しみず.むねはる: As a child my parents sometimes bought me pants which were too long expecting me to grow into them. That saved them on money and shopping and I was instructed to roll up my cuffs. But being a child this didn't always work so well and there were numerous times when I tripped or even fell on my face. Recently that memory was brought back to me when I ran across an entry on nagabakama. I always wondered how and why grown men would wear such attire. Now I know. "The long culottes dragged on the floor as the samurai moved acress a room and made it difficult for their wearer to engage in any surprise moves during a court appearance before the shogun." That makes sense.
Quote from: Matsuri: Japanese Festival Arts, by Gloria Granz Gonick, UCLA Fowler Museum of Cultural History, 2002, p. 70. 1
See also our entry on hakama. |
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Nagamochi |
長持
ながもち
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A large oblong chest for clothing and other personal possessions. "Nagamochi (long chest) is now seen only as an ancient relic in old families or among museum collections, but up to the early Meiji ear, it was an important household necessity.... Nagamochi appeared first in the 11th or 12th century..." Originally they may have been made of woven bamboo, but in time they were most frequently made of paulownia or white fir because of their lightness and abilities to stay somewhat dry. In time wealthier households had more elaborate chests which were often lacquered and decorated with family crests. In fact, these became a matter of pride when parents could provide their daughters with such chests as a part of their dowries. Sectioned tansus with drawers were a later invention.
Source and quotes: Mock Joya's Things Japanese, p. 38.
The images to the left are two details from prints by Hokusai. However, I have to admit that I am so abysmally ignorant about the fine points of Japanese furniture that I am only guessing that these images represent nagamochi. The one above is from a Chūshingura scene with one figure standing atop a large orange colored chest. The one below shows laborers struggling to keep a similar chest afloat while fording a river.
The fellow standing atop the chest in the top image is Amakawaya Gihei (天川屋義平 or あまかわ.ぎへい) from Act X of the Chūshingura. 1 |
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Nagasaki |
長崎 ながさき |
Port city used for foreign trade 1 |
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Nagasaki-e |
長崎絵
ながさきえ
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"The presence of artists in Nagasaki was not accidental since the government employed copyists to reproduce line for line all pictures and paintings that were imported... It is supposed that the Nagasaki prints were designed by such men as a sideline. The prints were usually unsigned and of those few that do carry a signature...little is know of the artists. These prints were published and sold in Nagasaki itself - presumably as souvenirs. The printing techniques were similar to those used in Edo, although the sizes of paper used were often larger and the pigments were slightly different... They all seem to be decidedly rare."
Quoted from: The Art of Japanese Prints, by Richard Illing, Gallery Books, 1980, p. 155.
The center image to the left is the full print. The top and bottom are details of that print. We really want to thank the fellow who sent this image to us so we could post it for you to see. One of these days I will find a way and place to post the full image in a large format. It is truly beautiful and perhaps the finest examples of Nagasaki-e I have ever seen. Of course, that is a personal opinion and simply a matter of taste. |
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Nage-zukin |
投げ頭巾 なげずきん
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A gauze hat or hair covering. |
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Naginata |
薙刀
なぎなた |
Halberd: "The naginata was the principal weapon of foot troops from the 11th century until well into the 15th century. It was the favorite weapon of Buddhist warrior-monks. Early naginata tended to have shorter shafts and longer blades than those of the 17th century onward, when samurai women were trained in their use. Contrary to common belief, the naginata remained in the arsenal of men until the abolition of the feudal system following the Meiji Restoration (1868)." Note that some authors contest the use of the word 'halberd' as a cultural comparison. Others use the term 'glaive'. I take no position. You can draw your own conclusions.
Generally the wooden shaft was 4 to 8 feet in length with a curved blade that was 1 to 2 feet long. At the bottom of the shaft was an iron cap.
Source and quote: Kodansha Encyclopedia of Japan entry by Benjamin H. Hazard (vol. 5, p. 308)
The image to the left is a detail from a print by Kuniyoshi from ca. 1840.
Several older and some newer sources say it was used mainly by women who fought along side the men. This was said to had begun during the Momoyama period (1563-1602). When it was swung in a circle it was meant to mow down the opponent.
In A Glossary of the Construction, Decoration, and Use of Arms and Armor in All Countries and in All Times: In All Countries and in All Times by George Cameron Stone (Penguin reprint, 1999, p. 463) it states "A Japanese spear with a head like a sword blade curving back very much near the point. It is sometimes called the 'woman's spear,' because women were taught to use it, mainly for exercise, but so that they were prepared to use it in case of necessity. The shafts are lacquered and decorated with metal mountings. Like all Japanese spears it was carried sheathed. ¶ There are three varieties; the most usual one has a tang that fits into the shaft; the naginata-no-saki has a socket on the end of the blade into which the shaft fits. It is the rarest form. The oldest form is the tsukushi naginata which has a loop, or loops, on the back of the blade into which the handle fits."
One account says that Oda Nobunaga, wounded by an arrow, grabbed a
naginata to fight off attackers before he locked himself in his quarters
and was either burned to death or committed suicide. (Secrets of the
Samurai: The Martial Arts of Feudal Japan, by Oscar Ratti and Adele
Westbrookp, published by Tuttle, 1991, p. 57)
The first kanji character, 薙, in combination with other characters means 'to mow down'. |
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Nakamura Fukusuke I |
中村福助 なかむら.ふくすけ |
The son of Nakamura Tomishirō and the brother of Nakamura Fukusuke II. Fukusuke I (1831-99) debuted in Osaka as Nakamura Tomatarō and later took the name Nakamura Tomasaburō. In 1838 he was adopted by Utaemon IV and moved with him to Edo in 1839 where he took the name Fukusuke. In 1860 he took the name Shikan IV by which he is best known. Extremely versatile and highly respected. In 1893 while performing an acrobatic-flying routine, a chūnori, the wire snapped and he fell breaking his leg. At his age and considering the state of medicine at the time this must have been a life altering event.
Click on the image above to see the full print featuring this portrait. |
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Nakamura Shikan |
中村芝翫 なかむらしガン |
Kabuki actor's name, but here the name of a fictitious twin brother of Nakamura Utaemon III 1 |
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Nakamura Utaemon III |
三代 中村歌右衛門
さんだい.なかむら うたえもん |
Kabuki actor: 1778-1838 -In the early 1820s Utaemon seriously twisted his leg in Edo. In 1825 in Osaka he injured it again and became extremely ill. "A week later he had recovered enough to continue acting through the end of the second month when the New Year's performances ended, but billboards had already announced a 'retirement performance' [isse ichidai kyogen] for the next month."
Source and quote from: The Theatrical World of Osaka Prints, by Roger S. Keyes and Keiko Mizushima, Philadelphi Museum of Art, 1973, p. 98.
"Utaemon's 'retirement' performance was so well received, and his spirits and health so revived, that he never left the stage, but continued acting without pause until his death at the age of sixty in 1838."
Ibid., p. 100
Michael Jordan retired from basketball only to return to it later. Sugar Ray Leonard retired several times. This is not uncommon with boxers. So, is it any surprise that Utaemon III decided to stay on the stage for another fourteen years after it was announced he was leaving?
For much more information about Utaemon click on the number in the column to the right. 1 |
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Nakanochō |
中野町
なかのちょう |
The main boulevard running directly through the Yoshiwara or red-light district of Edo. Although it was only a few blocks long it was memorialized in many prints which often showed the procession of the oirans and their attendants dressed in the finest garb.
"The third of the major events of the Yoshiwara had its beginning in 1741. In the spring of that year, proprietors of Nakanochō teahouses conceived the idea of beautifying the boulevard by planting cherry trees and applied for permission from the authorities to do so. It is said they were denied permission for planting trees and were told to use potted cherry plants with blossoms instead."
Quote from:
Yoshiwara: The
The image to the left is a detail from a polyptych by Toyokuni I showing the oirans and their retinues viewing the cherry blossoms on the Nakanochō. |
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Namazu |
鯰
なまず |
Giant catfish - believed to be the cause of earthquakes - or so I thought. There is an extremely informative web site written by Gregory Smits at Penn State University which gives the most thorough history of the namazu which I have seen in English so far. (Here is a link to that page: http://www.east-asian-history.net/textbooks/172/ch8.htm ) Note that Dr. Smits gives a load of links to other namazu imagery or other relevant sites. This is my summary of his information as best I understand it.
In the image to the left Edoites are attacking the catfish they believe is responsible for the 1855 earthquake. |
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1. The namazu is Not exactly/actually a catfish: "The Japanese word namazu refers to a wide variety of fish that in English might be called catfish or bullheads. Generally, namazu does not refer to a specific species of fish. In artistic and literary contexts, it is often best to think of namazu less as actual fish swimming around in waterways of Japan than as cultural symbols. And what did namazu symbolize? When it first made an appearance in a work of Japanese highbrow art at the start of the fifteenth century, we cannot determine with certainty what namazu symbolized. As time went on, however, these metaphorical fish gradually began to symbolize disorder. By they [sic] late eighteenth century, the namazu typically stood for one specific type of disorder: earthquakes." A whole genre of namazu pictures developed immediate after the quake of 1855, but in time this fish became a political satire stand in for "...(puffed up) government officials...", etc.
Note: The two major on-line kanji sources I use both give namazu as catfish.
2. In the 15th century there were various explanations for earthquakes based mainly on Chinese concepts. One theory is that quakes were caused by dragons which were referred to as namazu. In time this word seemed to morph into meaning a giant catfish. In fact, it was believed that it could be the movement of any large mythic animal which supported the earth. Or, it could even be the result of male and female deities having sex. There were other theories, but I like that last one best.
3. In the early 15th century the concept of catching or controlling a catfish with a gourd became popular. According to Dr. Smits this was not a Zen kōan, but did become a stock metaphor for attempting the impossible. By the 17th century folk art images were sold to pilgrims in the city of Ōtsu. "...one popular motif... was the image of a person, or, more typically, a monkey, suppressing a giant namazu with a bottle gourd." For centuries the term hyōtan-namazu (瓢箪鯰 or ひょうたん.なまず) or gourd-namazu was used for trying the impossible. This term is hardly used or understood today. "During the eighteenth century, the notion developed that the deity of the Kashima shrine [Kashima daimyōjin 鹿島大明神 or かしま.だいみょうじん] just NE of Edo (Tokyo) pressed down on an oval-shaped boulder called the 'foundation stone' (kamame-ishi [要石 or かなめいし]). This boulder, in turn, pressed down on the head of a huge underground namazu." Occasionally the shrine god would have to leave town for a meeting at the Izumo shrine. At those times Ebisu (or even Daikoku) would take over. If any of them was ever distracted, inattentive or fell asleep the namazu would thrash about causing an earthquake. "(Incidentally, there was an alternative explanation in which the movement of a giant pheasant located at the Kashima Shrine caused earthquakes.)"
4. After the quake of 1855 two different types of namazu were considered: The destructive and the restorative. Actually even the destructive kind could act in a restorative manner. Cities had to be rebuilt. Lives had to be made whole again. Many people often felt the quake was retribution for imagined and real ills. This is not far removed from the Judeo-Christian concept behind the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah or even the invocations used by modern theologians in their attempts to explain the destruction wrought on September 11, 2001 and/or the flooding of New Orleans following hurricane Katrina in 2005.
***** In 1964 Cornelius Ouwehand published his Namazu-e and Their Themes: An Interpretative Approach to Some Aspects of Japanese Folk Religion. In that volume he noted that the Kashima deity sometimes suppressed the namazu with a sword too and that in certain prints the giant catfish might be replaced by a whale. In a book review by M. E. in the Monumenta Nipponica it is noted that "The interpretation of the namazu pictures is further complicated by the appearance of the fish in human form, as child, as a man or woman, as a representative of various crafts and trades, but still showing a connection with the gourd or water or both by a distinctive mark on his clothes. At times the namazu as causer of earthquakes is abused and hated, at times he is adored as avenger of social injustices ..." M. E. continues "Besides their religious significance in connection with the earthquake legend we find in the pictures also criticism of existing social conditions through ridicule, irony and puns on words."
Who is the Kashima deity? Ouwehand traced the history according to M.E.: "In the myths the god Kashima is Takemikazuchi which arose from the blood of the fire-god Kagutsuchi when his father Izanagi killed him with his sword. Takemikazuchi is the sword-fire-god and thunder-lightning god at the same time." M. E. is critical of the jumble of concepts dealt with by Ouwehand. However, I wasn't quite sure which jumble he was referring to. If it was the dual nature of the namazu then time and scholarship seem to be on Ouwehand's side. |
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Nanushi |
名主 なぬし |
Censors: Starting in ca. 1790
the government sought to keep better control over the production or
woodblock prints. They wanted to make sure that nothing seditious (
Source and quote from: "Ukiyoe: Some Aspects of Japanese Classical Picture Prints", by Shigeyoshi Mihara, Monumenta Nipponica, Vol. 6, No. 1/2. (1943), footnote 13, p. 257.
In an interesting 1913 article in "The International Studio" (p. 313) entitled "The Dating of Japanese Colour-Prints in 1842" J. J. O'Brien Sexton quotes a passage from Captain F. Brinkley's Japan: Its History, Art, and Literature (vol. 7, p. 50): "At one time (1842) and that not by any means the Golden Age of the Art, the Yedo Government, in a mood of economy, deemed it necessary to issue a sumptuary law prohibiting the sale of various kinds of chromo-xylographs - single-sheet pictures of actors, danseuses, and 'dames of the green chamber': pictures in series of three sheets or upwards, and pictures in the printing of which more than seven blocks were used. The prohibition held for twelve years only -"
[Chromo-xylographs = colored woodblock prints; 'dames of the green chamber' = courtesans, i.e., prostitutes of the Yoshiwara.]
According to Sexton the nanushi were administrative counselors, i.e., "Toshiyori", who had nothing to do with the production of the woodblock prints. (p. 314) |
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Nashi |
梨
なし |
Japanese pear: This fruit has no particular connection with ukiyo-e. However, I am reading The Pillow Book of Sei Shōnagon in the Penguin Classics version, translated and annotated by Ivan Morris. This is a book everyone interested in traditional Japan should read. Sei Shōnagon is a woman who doesn't seem to have thought twice about expressing her prejudices and one of them was about the nashi. It was too juicy not to include here. In her section on flowering trees she said: "The blossom of the pear tree is the most prosaic, vulgar thing in the world. The less one sees this particular blossom the better, and it should not be attached to even the most trivial message. The pear blossom can be compared to the face of a plain woman; for its coloring lacks all charm. Or so, at least, I used to think. Knowing that the Chinese admire the pear blossom greatly and praise it in thier poems, I wondered what they could see in it and made a point of examining the flower. Then I was surprised to find that its petals were prettily edged with a pink tinge, so faint that I could not be sure whether it was there or not." She then recalls that the pear blossom was compared to the face of Yang Kuei-fei and decides that "...it really is a magnificent flower."
Two items: Morris notes that Sei Shōnagon is mistaken about the comparison of the flower to the face of Yang Kuei-fei. Actually her visage was compared to the delicacy of jade. And, in a footnote he adds: "It was customary to attach flowers or leaves to one's letters; the choice depended on the season, the dominant mood of the letter, the imagery of the poem it contained, and the colour of the paper."
For our comments on the Yang Gui-fei motif in Japanese art go to our entry on our Yakusha thru Z index/glossary page.
In the Chinese poem, "A Song of Unending Sorrow", by Bai Juyi's (772-846) Yang Gui-fei's spectre is described after death as thus:
Her face, delicate as jade, is desolate beneath the heavy tears, Like a spray of pear blossoms in spring, veiled in drops of rain.
The image of the pear blossoms is from the web site operated by Shu Suehiro at http://www.botanic.jp/index.htm. |
"Among the weapons the samurai
woman handled with skill was the spear, both the straight (yari) and
the curved (naginata), which customarily hung over the doors of every
military household and which she could use against charging foes or any
unauthorized intruder found within the precincts of the clan's
establishment." (p. 115) In 1843 there were still said
to be two school of martial arts which specialized in training using the
naginata. (p. 157)
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