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Ochiai Yoshiiku

Utsusemi: Watanabe no Tsuna, Chapter 3 from the series Modern Parodies of Genji (Imayō nazaroe Genji)

Maker

Ochiai Yoshiiku (Japanese, 1833-1904)
Omiya Kyusuke (Japanese), publisher
Hakayawa Sashichi (Japanese), block carver

Title

Utsusemi: Watanabe no Tsuna, Chapter 3 from the series Modern Parodies of Genji (Imayō nazaroe Genji)
Modern-style Imitations of Genji
Modern Parodies of Genji (Imayō nazaroe Genji)

Period

Edo (Japanese period)

Year

1864, 7th month

Medium

  • polychrome woodblock print

Materials/Techniques

Techniques

  • Polychrome woodblock print

Materials

ink, color

Supports

  • paper

Geography

Place Made: Japan; Place Made: Tokyo

Dimensions

Vertical ōban: 37.5 x 22.9 cm (14 3/4 x 9 inches)

Signature / Inscription / Marks

Signature: Ikkeisai Yoshiiku ga

Seals: Artist's paulownia seal; engraver's seal | Sashichi shi; censor's seal | aratame; date seal

Credit / Object Number

Credit

Gift of Paula and Leonard Granoff

Object Number

85.197.2

Type

  • Prints

Exhibition History

Text, Paratext, and Images
Sep 01, 2020 – Jul 24, 2021

Label copy

This artist playfully connects classical Japanese literature with contemporary tales, pairing texts and images to form clever similes. Watanabe no Tsuna, a samurai known for his adventures, is pictured with an amputated arm of a demon in this scene. The dismembered arm is likened to the cast-off robes mentioned in a chapter from the Tale of Genji, a narrative from the 1000s referenced in the text above the image. Utagawa Yoshiiku’s series includes 54 prints, each pairing a chapter from the Tale of Genji with a contemporary story.

Heroes and Warriors
Japanese Prints of Historical Narratives and Legendary Tales
Sep 28, 2007 – Jan 13, 2008

Label copy

The samurai Watanabe no Tsuna (993-1024) was famed for having cut off the arm of the demon Ibaraki after a long night’s watch at the Rashomon Gate of Kyoto. The illustrated inset at the top of the print matches this subject with “The Shell of the Locust” (Utsusemi), chapter 3 of the 11th-century Tale of Genji, the earliest novel in Japanese literature. The connection between the historical subject and the theme from the novel is unclear, but usually there is a relationship between such insets and the main subject of the print.

19th-Century Japanese Printmaking, Part I
The Heroic, Bizarre, and Supernatural
Sep 09, 1998 – Dec 06, 1998
Meiji Period Prints from the Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Leonard Granoff
Nov 01, 1989 – Jan 31, 1990

Image use

The images on this website can enable discovery and collaboration and support new scholarship, and we encourage their use.

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

Tombstone

Ochiai Yoshiiku (Japanese, 1833-1904)
Omiya Kyusuke (Japanese), publisher
Hakayawa Sashichi (Japanese), block carver
Utsusemi: Watanabe no Tsuna, Chapter 3 from the series Modern Parodies of Genji (Imayō nazaroe Genji); Modern-style Imitations of Genji; Modern Parodies of Genji (Imayō nazaroe Genji), 1864, 7th month
Polychrome woodblock print
Vertical ōban: 37.5 x 22.9 cm (14 3/4 x 9 inches)
Gift of Paula and Leonard Granoff 85.197.2

To request new photography, please send an email to imagerequest@risd.edu and include your name and the object's accession number.

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