Utagawa Kunisada/Toyokuni III (1786-1865) Lingering Sentiments of a Late Collection of Genji (Genji goshû yojô) Ch. 15: Sakaki, 1858. Oban.
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This is a fine illustration of the
highest standards of Japanese woodblock printing. The background is
deeply blind-embossed against the rich surface of the paper and the
fine, crisp cutting of the blocks. There is obsessive attention to
detail and tremendous confidence in the artist, the block-cutter and the
printer.
There are hundreds of Tale of the Genji prints to confuse the woodblock lover. A seemingly endless number of prints have the bland title A Tale of the Genji, or, Chapter 44 from The Tale of the Genji,
with little or no explanation of context. Many of these woodblock
prints of the nineteenth century concern 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 a highly
romanticised (to our sensibility) middle class world of lovelorn
townsmen and women, professional sex workers, child prostitutes,
disgraced samurai and struggling adolescents all set against the
backdrop of the Yoshiwara (pleasure quarter).
Kunisada illustrated the books as they were published. This series of prints, Lingering Sentiments of a Late Collection of Genji (Genji goshû yojô) was a pun on The Fifty-four Chapters of the Tale of Genji (Genji gojûyojô).
The prints were available singly or in pairs and each print has a
companion although they are not traditionally seen as true diptychs. The
British Museum has this to say:
Kunisada and his pupils designed no less
than thirty-seven Genji print series between 1835 and 1866, totalling
thousands of images. The series, Genji goshū yojō (Lasting Impressions of a Late Genji Collection),
is considered the best. The Japanese title puns on the phrase Album of
Fifty-Four Genji [Chapters]. Kunisada also designed erotic versions of
the parody, issued as several sets of three-volume, deluxe
colour-printed books.
The Kunisada authority, Andreas Marks says:
Kunisada's major, opulent Genji series…clearly intended as the climactic masterpiece of his many adaptations of A Country Genji.
This is an important print series,
lavish, academic and widely discussed. The delicacy of the designs and
the printing and especially the light colour of the background demand
that the sheets be in pristine condition. Many museum copies are quite
soiled and this distracts from the elegant beauty of the design. This
sheet is in fine condition, colour impression and condition are all fine
and the blocks are outstandingly crisp.
Embossing to the background, burnishing to the kimono.
Publisher: Wakasaya Yoichi (Jakurindô).
26 x 37 cm.
