Utagawa Kunisada/Toyokuni III (1786-1865) A Genji Twelve Months (Jûnika tsuki no uchi): The Fourth Month (Uzuki) , 1847 - 1852. Oban.
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There is the potential for mind-numbing confusion when entering the realm of Tale of Genji, especially for the casual collector or ukiyo-e browser. A seemingly endless number of prints have the bland title… A Tale of the Genji, or, Chapter 44 from The Tale of the Genji, and little or no explanation of context.
Many of these woodblock prints of the nineteenth century concerns the quite different, Rustic Genji…
not the classic work of Japanese literature written by the noblewoman,
poet, and lady-in-waiting Murasaki Shikibu around the peak of the Heian
period, in the early 11th century. That work was perhaps the first true
novel and a work of fiction that not only reflected palace life and
style but went on (as some great art does) to predict, inspire and
create the complex society of Japanese culture that developed in the mid
centuries around the deposed Emperors and the new samurai class.
In 1825 Ryutei Tanehiko began a popular serial novel called Nise Murasaki Inaka Genji, (False Murasaki and a Rural Genji)
which does follow the storyline of the original novel; however, this
version is set in the 15th century, and the love affairs of Prince Genji
take place in the licensed quarters, rather than at court as in the
original novel. Tanehiko presents a cynical hero, and narrative
conventions borrowed from popular novels, kabuki and puppet
theatre, replacing the melancholy poetic tone of the original. Published
as a very long series of separate books, illustrated by Kunisada, the
series was an immediate sensation and became popular very quickly,
inspiring something of a Genji craze, with associated hair-fashions and
product names, and dramatised versions of the book. The illustrations
provoked a new category of prints, Genji-e ("Genji pictures"), based on Tanehiko’s plot rather than the Heian-period original. The books (gokan),
were a medium of pre-modern Japanese literature where the story is told
through a mixture of text and image on every page, with the narrative
and dialogue of the story surrounding the image illustrations on all
sides.
Kunisada made dozens of prints and print series on the subject of the
'False Genji' or 'Rustic Genji'. The story encapsulated the highly (to
our sensibility) romanticised middle class world of lovelorn townsmen
and women, of professional sex workers, child prostitutes, disgraced
samurai and struggling adolescents all set against the backdrop of the
Yoshiwara (pleasure quarter). This series is a mitate really or puzzle picture. We can no longer say with any certainty exactly how these images were put together… The term "uzuki" refers to a particular genus of flowering plant, deutzia, which flowers in the fourth month.
In the upper right is a square symbol in pale blue; this is the Genji
crest. Genji crests are 54 different rectilinear emblems, each
associated with one of the 54 chapters of the Genji monogatari. There were originally 25 crests, expanded to 54 , one for each chapter of the novel. Viewing Japanese Prints
has a very useful guide to all of the patterns. As is the case here,
in Edo period printmaking these patterns were not always strictly
matched with the chapters of the Genji story.
Horst Graebner describes this series on the site, The Kunisada Project as: A fine Kunisada Genji double half-length portraits series designed ca. 1850/51 representing the twelve months of the year. It is fine; the designs all relate to the passing chapters of the book. In this picture, Mitsuji sneaks into the house of the Otogawa family and tells them of a secret affair by the light of a house-shaped net lantern. Standing behind him is Wisteria, holding a piece of kaishi paper (a symbol of prostitution), wearing a coat of the same pattern as Mitsuji's coat - a genji chapter mon and hollyhock. This is an adaptation by Ryutei Tanehiko of the secret meeting between Fujitsubo and Hikaru Genji in the “Wakamurasaki” volume of the original The Tale of Genji.
A fine print in excellent condition with embossing and delicate bokashi shading to the background. Colour and impression are fine.
Publisher: Minatoya Kohei.
36.1 x 24.7 cm.
