Utagawa Kuniyoshi (歌川国芳) (artist 11/15/1797 – 03/05/1861)

Genji chapter 21, The Maiden (Otome - 乙女): The nine-tailed fox woman (Kayō-fujin [花陽夫人]) terrorizing Prince Hanzoku (足王) and his servant from the series Japanese and Chinese Parallels to Genji (Wakan nazorae Genji - 和漢准源氏)

Print

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Date:07/1855
Dimensions:10 in x 14.5 in (Overall dimensions) Medium:color woodblock print
Inscription:Signed: Ichiyūsai Kuniyoshi ga
一勇斎国芳画
Publisher: Iseyoshi (Marks U095 - seal 25-013)
Censor seal: aratame
Date seal: Hare 7 - 7/1855
Carver: Hori Shōji (彫庄治)
Links The British Museum
The Kuniyoshi Project
Waseda University
Museum für angewandte Kunst, Vienna
National Library of Australia
Muzeum Sztuki i Techniki Japońskiej Manggha, Krakow
Victoria and Albert Museum
Chazen Museum of Art
Hiroshige Museum of Art, Ena
Kobe City Museum
Kunstpalast Düsseldorf Description:Lady Huayang in her true fox form.

"The scene takes place on a tile-covered balcony in the Indian empire of Devala. What is striking is the European architecture in the background. The one-thousand-year-old, nine-tailed fox has already taken possession of Prince Hanzoku's wife, as she is up to something.

In twelfth-century-BC China, she contributed to the downfall of King Zhou and the Shang dynasty in the form of the mistress Dakki (Chinese: Daji). As Tamamono Mae, she also gained access to Emperor Toba's (1103-1156) inner chamber in Japan, whereupon he fell ill. Master Seimei Abeno can unmask her with the aid of occult methods. She then takes on her true form as a fox and escapes, taking to the air..."

Quoted from: Samurai Stars of the Stage and Beautiful Women: Kunisada and Kuniyoshi, Masters of the Color Woodblock Print by Hatje Cantz, p. 256.

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Illustrated:

1) In color in Kuniyoshi by Jūzō Suzuki, Heibonsha Limited, Publishers, 1992, no. 171.

2) In color in 歌川国芳展: 生誕200年記念 Utagawa Kuniyoshi: Exhibition to Commemorate the 200th Anniversary of his birth, 1996, #85, p. 84.

3) Twice in Samurai Stars of the Stage and Beautiful Women: Kunisada and Kuniyoshi, Masters of the Color Woodblock Print by Hatje Cantz, Museum Kunstpalast, pp. 31 and 256.

4) In color in 原色浮世絵大百科事典 (Genshoku Ukiyoe Daihyakka Jiten), vol. 9, p. 22, #34.

5) In color in Chimi moryō no sekai : Ukiyoe : Edo no gekiga--reikai, makai no shujinkō-tachi (浮世絵魑魅魍魎の世界: 江戶の劇画 : 霊界魔界の主人公たち) by 中右瑛 (Nakau Ei), Ribun Shuppan, Tokyo, 1987, p. 37. [The text is entirely in Japanese.]

6) In color in 浮世絵八華 (Ukiyo-e hakka), vol. 7 (Kuniyoshi), Heibonsha, 1985, #52.

7) In black and white in Utagawa Kuniyoshi, Springfield Museum of Art, 1980, #196.

8) In a small black and white reproduction in "L'ukiyo-e come arte «di uso e consumo»" by Manuela Capriati, Il Giappone, Vol. 41 (2001), p. 78.

9) In a small black and white reproduction in Yokai Attack! The Japanese Monster Survival Guide by Hiroko Yoda and Matt Alt, Kodansha International, 2008, page 146.

10) In a full-page color reproduction in Ukiyo-e from The Museum of Fine Arts, Springfield, MA, 1994, #39, page 100.

11) In a full-page color reproduction in Japanese Yōkai and Other Supernatural Beings: Authentic Paintings and Prints of 100 Ghosts, Demons, Monsters and Magicians by Andreas Marks, Tuttle Publishing, 2023, p. 76. This exact print is the one illustrated in this volume.

12) In a small color reproduction in Yoshitoshi's Thirty-six Ghosts by John Stevenson, p. 14.

13) in a large color reproduction in Ukiyo-e: Japanische Farbholzschnitte des 19. Jahrhunderts, Schenkung Dr. Hans Lühdorf. Bilder einer fließenden vergänglichen Welt., Kunstmuseum Düsseldorf im Ehrenhof, 1990, tafel VI, #210. On page 124 a smaller black and white reproduction of this print along with a description.

14) in black and white in Japanese Prints: Realities of the "Floating World" by Marjorie L. Williams, Published by The Cleveland Museum of Art with Indiana University Press, 1983, #29, page 43.
Related entities Iseyoshi (伊勢芳) (publisher)
Genji related prints (Genji-e - 源氏絵) (genre)
Yūrei-zu (幽霊図 - ghosts demons monsters and spirits) (genre)

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