Posted by John Fiorillo on March 25, 1998 at 14:13:24:
In Reply to: Chushingura by Hiroshige posted by Nils U. Bosshard on March 24, 1998 at 02:45:00:
: I have just bought a print by Hiroshige showing a man (samurai?) and a woman kneeling before him. The information given with the print was "Ogura modoki Hyakuninshu, Fujiwara no Kiyosuke ason".
: The print looks exactly as coming from a series by Kuniyoshi called "An Imitation of the Ogura Selection of the Hundred Poets", an illustration of which is in Basil Stewart's "A guide to Japanese prints", Plate 52-3.
: My questions are:
: (1) Is the title of the Kuniyoshi series the translation of the one given to my Hiroshige print?
: (2) Were there two separate series by Kuniyoshi and Hiroshige or was it a joint series by the two artists? (There is no mention of this in Basil Stewart's book)
: (3) The Hiroshige print has the number "12" in Japanese on the margin. Could this mean that it is the 12th print (act?) of the series; as far as I know, the play usually ends with the 11th act?
: Thank you for any help!
FOLLOW-UP: Your Hiroshige print is not a Chushingura subject; rather, it is one of a series of prints based on the Ogura hyakunin isshu (“Imitation of the Treasury of One Hundred Poems by One Hundred Poets”), an anthology compiled by Fujiwara no Sadaie (1162-1241) which represents Japan’s most familiar collection (known by heart even by many modern Japanese). The print series is cited in Robinson: Kuniyoshi, The Warrior Prints (1982), S.46, pp. 132-135. It was published by Ibaya Sensaburo c. 1845-48, and there were three artists involved: Kuniyoshi (51 prints), Hiroshige (35 prints), and Kunisada (14 prints). Robinson describes your print as: “Poem by Sojo Henjo: Hotake-gozen, mistress of Taira no Kiyomori, in succession to Gio in the dress of a shirabyoshi dancer making a respectful bow.” It should bear the censor seal of Kinugasa and the engraver seal of Fusajiro. Impressions exist in the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Royal Scottish Museum as well as in private and other public collections. Your design is number 12, referring to the twelfth poem in the anthology, which is included in your design. The poem by Henjo (the religious name of Yoshimune no Munesada, 816-890) has been translated by Tom Galt: Amatsukaze/kumo no kayoiji/fuki tojiyo/otome no sugata/shibashi todomen (“If where clouds travel/West Wind would bang shut the gate/I could watch longer/The autumn festival dance/Of the maidens of heaven”). The poem alludes to maidens who performed the “Gosechi no mai” dance at the autumn festival called “Nijame matsuri” when newly harvested rice was presented to the emperor. The girls in the poem appeared as angels to the poet, and so he wished the clouds would close over the sky and prevent them from returning to heaven so that he could witness their beauty as long as possible. The connection with your Hiroshige design is somewhat tenuous, but surely the allusion to these maidens bestows upon Hotake-gozen a special beauty analogous to that of the maidens in the poem. Combining and comparing one subject with another is an example of what is called “mitate-e” (view and compare picture”), a common literary and artistic device used during the Tokugawa period.