Utagawa Kuniyoshi (歌川国芳) (artist 11/15/1797 – 03/05/1861)
No. 27 Ashida (芦田): Araimaru (あらい丸) and Nyogetsuni (女月尼), from the series Sixty-nine Stations of the Kisokaidō Road (Kisokaidō rokujūkyū tsugi no uchi - 木曾街道六十九次之内)
08/1852
10.25 in x 14.75 in (Overall dimensions) Japanese woodblock print
Signed: Ichiyūsai Kuniyoshi ga
一勇斎国芳画
Artist seal: kiri
Publisher: Sumiyoshya Masagorō
(Marks 498 - seal 21-062)
Carver seal: Hori Sennosuke
彫工須川千之助
Date: 8/1852
Censor seals: Kinugusa and Murata
Hiroshige Museum of Art
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
British Museum
Waseda University
Tokyo Metropolitan Library
Musée Cernuschi
Lyon Collection - Yoshitsuya triptych with Takiyasha-hime prominently displayed
Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin College "Nyogetsuni is the Buddhist name of the former nun who becomes the sorceress Takiyasha (the name used by Kuniyoshi on the title page) in the 1806 novel The Loyalty of Utō Yasukata (Utō Yasukata chūgiden), written by Santō Kyōden and illustrated by Kuniyoshi's teacher, Toyokuni. The book was very popular and became the basis for a number of puppet plays and kabuki plays, as well as a later sequel by another author.
In Kyōden's fantasy novel, Takiyasha and her brother, Yoshikado, are the children of the historical warrior Taira Masakado, who rebelled against imperial rule in the tenth century. After their father's death, the brother and sister learn toad magic from an immortal in the mountains in order to carry on the rebellion. Their headquarters is the ruined palace at Sōma, a place-name that could mean 'herd of horses,' and so horses are featured in the series title border. The name Ashida station is a pun on the word for 'clogs' (ashida, also called geta), and Takiyasha wears high clogs to walk through the snow as she performs a magical ritual, with a torch between her teeth, a mirror around her neck, a bell in her left hand, and a sword in her right. Her hair is still relatively short, a reminder of her recent past as a Buddhist nun. Takiyasha is followed by her henchman, Araimaru, who carries the head of one of their victims attached to a branch.
The bird shape of the outlines the inset landscape represents a seabird of northern Japan known as utō or utōyasukata, the source of the name of the character mentioned in the title of the book. Utō Yasukata is killed by the evil magic of Takiyasha and Yoshikado, but his relatives and their friends are eventually able to avenge him and defeat the sorcerous siblings.
Kuniyoshi designed a number of prints based on this story, including the famous triptych in which Takiyasha uses her magic to summon the evil spirit in the form of a giant skeleton."
Quoted from: Utagawa Kuniyoshi: The Sixty-nine Stations of the Kisokaidō by Sarah E. Thompson, Pomegranate Communications, Inc., 2009, p. 70. Illustrated in color in a full-page reproduction on p. 71.
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Here is the description of Ashida from Hiroshige.org:
The post town of Ashida was in a mountainous area.... The Kasadori Pass is said to have commanded a magnificent view of Mt. Asama.****
Another copy of this print is listed, but unillustrated in Japanese Woodblock Prints: A Catalogue of the Mary A. Ainsworth Collection, by Roger Keyes, p. 191, #514.
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Some collections refer to the sorceress as Nyogetsuni (the British Museum) while others call her Jogetsuri (the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston).
magicians (mahōtsukai - 魔法使い) (genre)
landscape prints (fūkeiga 風景画) (genre)
Sumiyoshiya Masagorō (住吉屋政吾郎) (publisher)
Taira Masakado (平將門) (role)