Utagawa Kuniyoshi
Japanese, 1798-1861
Edo Murasaki, ca 1850
With artist's seal
Nishiki-e (color woodblock print)
Oban format,
Diptych
Signed: Kuniyoshi
Museum Collection
The rich brocaded color of this print justifies the Japanese use
of the phrase "brocade pictures" to refer to color woodblock
prints. The word "Murasaki" may refer to the great medieval
woman novelist or the color purple. Edo is now Tokyo, the
capital of the country and, at the time this print was made, the
center of "floating world" culture. But this scene looks
surprisingly "normal"-pleasant and even domestic. Though the man
washing his hands is being attended to by the woman, there is no
note of servility. They equally exchange amiable glances. The
woman's kimono bears a water-wheel motif, reminding us of the
cleansing by water that is going on in the print but also
perhaps reminding us of the Buddhist Wheel of Life. The
well-to-do commoners of Edo sometimes did try to recreate the
cultural values of the refined Heian court of Lady Murasaki's
day, at a time when the actual aristocracy was in decline. The
common people of Edo really remade ancient values in a modern
way. Against difficult odds, they created themselves.
| |