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.



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