Kitao Masanobu

Takigawa of the Ogiya (Ogiyanai takigawa)

Maker

Kitao Masanobu (Japanese, 1761-1816)
Tsutaya Jūzaburō 蔦屋重三郎 (Japanese, 1750 - 1797), publisher

Title

Takigawa of the Ogiya (Ogiyanai takigawa)
A mirror of a comparing the calligraphy of new beauties of the Yoshiwara
Yoshiwara keisei shin bijin jihitsu kagami

Period

Edo (Japanese period)

Year

Spring 1784

Medium

Materials/Techniques

Techniques

Materials

ink and color

Supports

Geography

Place Made: Japan

Dimensions

Sheet: 37.6 x 24.1 cm (14 13/16 x 9 1/2 inches)

Signature / Inscription / Marks

Inscription verson, bottom right in pencil: EGR76

[text and poems] Poem (reading, unusually, from left to right) starting with two lines from a Tang-dynasty poem per Jenkins (see refs. and Xerox in cat. file; "short preface" per Amsterdam) and waka by Mibu no Tadamine (fl. 898-920), one of the compilers of the Kokinshu and one of the Thirty-six Immortal Poets, and the lead poem "composed at a poetry competition held at the house of Taira no Sadafun" in the anthology Shuishu (Shui waka shu, Collection of Gleanings) compiled ca. 1005 by Retired Emperor Kazan (968-1008):
haru tatsu to Is it only because
iu bakari ni ya The calendar says spring has come?
mi yoshino no Even the mountains
yama mo kasumite At Yoshino this morning
kesa wa miyuran Are faintly touched with haze.
(trans. Donald Keene, Seeds in the Heart, p. 285)

Calligraphy by Takigawa (inscription following the poem on the far right)

Credit / Object Number

Credit

Gift of Mrs. Gustav Radeke

Object Number

20.1117

Type

Exhibition History

The Pleasure of Edo
Life in the Yoshiwara
Mar 24, 2000 – Jun 18, 2000

Label copy

Masanobu, who was actually the novelist Santo Kyoden, designed an album of prints of the most famous courtesans of the day for the New Year of 1784. Each woman is paired with courtly poetry (waka) written in her own calligraphy, establishing a relationship between these courtesans and the courtly female poets and writers of the Heian period (794-1185), the classical period of Japanese literature. This print is the right half of a two-panel work (diptych) in which each of the two courtesans is represented walking in formal procession outdoors with her attendants.

Edo Culture II
Life in the Pleasure Quarters
Dec 16, 1994 – Mar 05, 1995

Image use

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Public Domain This object is in the Public Domain and available under a CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication

Tombstone

Kitao Masanobu (Japanese, 1761-1816)
Tsutaya Jūzaburō 蔦屋重三郎 (Japanese, 1750 - 1797), publisher
Takigawa of the Ogiya (Ogiyanai takigawa); A mirror of a comparing the calligraphy of new beauties of the Yoshiwara; Yoshiwara keisei shin bijin jihitsu kagami, Spring 1784
Polychrome woodblock print
Sheet: 37.6 x 24.1 cm (14 13/16 x 9 1/2 inches)
Gift of Mrs. Gustav Radeke 20.1117

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