Utagawa Kuniyoshi (歌川国芳) (artist 11/15/1797 – 03/05/1861)
Enshi (剡子) on the left and Kan no Buntei (漢文帝) on the right, from the series The Twenty-four Chinese Paragons of Filial Piety (Morokoshi nijūshi-kō - 唐土廾四孝)
1848
13.5 in x 9.5 in (Overall dimensions) Signed: Ichiyūsai Kuniyoshi ga
一勇斎国芳画
Inscription: Ryūkatei Tanekazu
Kuniyoshi Project - the entire series
Tokyo Metropolitan Library - left sheet
Minneapolis Institute of Arts - left sheet
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston - left sheet
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston - right sheet
Museum für angewandte Kunst, Vienna - left panel
Museum für angewandte Kunst, Vienna - right panel
Hagi Uragami - right panel
Östasiatiska Museet, Sweden - left panel only
Kanagawa Prefectural Museum - left panel
Musées Royaux d'Art et d'Histoire (via Ritsumeikan University) - left panel only -trimmed
Musées Royaux d'Art et d'Histoire (via Ritsumeikan University) - right panel only - trimmed
Art Institute of Chicago - right panel only
Art Institute of Chicago - left panel only
Tokyo Metropolitan Library - right-hand sheet
Nationaal Museum van Wereldculturen (Rijksmuseum Volkenkunde, Leiden) via Ritsumeikan University - left panel only Below is R. Keller Kimbrough's translation of an early edition of the Nijūshikō. It does not specifically apply to these Kuniyoshi prints except in the most general terms.
[2] Emperor Bun of Kan 漢文帝 (Emperor Wen of Han)
Ruling the land with benevolence and filial piety,Emperor Bun of Kan was a son of the patriarch of Kan. As a child, he went by the name of Gō. He was filial toward his mother, Empress Dowager Haku 薄太后. Whenever she was served any kind of food, he would always taste it first himself. Emperor Bun had many brothers, but none of them were as benevolent and righteous in their conduct, or as filially pious as he. This is why the retainers Chin Bei 陳平, Shū Botsu 周勃, and others made him king. From that time forward, he was called Emperor Bun of Kan. Now, although we may know that everyone should follow the Way of Filial Piety, from the sovereign on high to his myriad subjects below, in fact it can be difficult to put into practice and to keep lodged within our hearts. Nevertheless, as the august ruler of the forty-thousand-and-more provinces, Emperor Bun behaved in just this way, thanks to his venerable disposition. People say that as a result, the realm thrived and the people dwelled in tranquility.
he towers high, surpassing a hundred other kings.
Serving his wise mother at the Imperial Court of Kan,
he always tastes her medicinal decoctions.
Kimbrough added that Kan 漢 is the Han Dynasty (206 BC–220 AD), and the patriarch of Kan was Liu Bang 劉邦, later known as Emperor Gaozu of Han. He was both the founder and the first emperor of the Han Dynasty. “Forty-thousand-and-more provinces” is an epithet for China.
[17] Zen Shi 剡子 (Tan Zi)
Because his old parents yearn for deer’s milk,Zen Shi was so filial that he sought to throw away his life for his parents’ sake. The reason is this: Zen Shi’s mother and father were old, and because they both suffered from maladies of the eyes, they longed to have the milk of a deer as medicine. Because Zen Shi had always been a filial child, he wished to achieve his parents’ desire. He therefore donned a deerskin and slipped inside a large herd of deer. Seeing this, some hunters took Zen Shi to be a real deer, and they prepared to shoot him with their bows. At that moment Zen Shi shouted, “I am not a real deer! My name is Zen Shi, and I have disguised myself as a deer so that I might fulfill my parents’ desire.” The hunters were surprised, and when they asked him how this could be, Zen Shi explained everything. Thus, it was thanks to the profundity of his filial devotion that Zen Shi was able to return home without being shot. Indeed, as a person, how could anyone acquire the milk of a deer just because someone wants it? Nevertheless, it is moving to imagine the thoughtfulness of Zen Shi’s filial piety.
he swathes himself in a brown furry robe.
Had he not spoken up loudly, he would have
gone home wearing an arrow from the mountains.
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The book entitled The Twenty-four Paragons of Filial Piety was written by the Chinese scholar Guo Jujing during the Yuan Dynasty. His pen name was Yizi, and he is known in Japan as Kaku Kyokei. The book recounts the self-sacrificing behavior of twenty-four sons and daughters who go to extreme lengths to honor their parents, stepparents, grandparents, and in-laws. Many of the images in this series appear Western in style, rather than Japanese, and were probably copied from Italian prints. The prints in this edition appear to have been printed two per ōban sheet (about 9.5 x 13.5 inches) and folded to chūban pages (about 9.5 x 6.75 inches). The were once bound together in an album.
Japanese name: Yenshi
Chinese name: Yen Tzu
Yenshi disguised himself in a deer skin in order to capture a doe, which he could milk in order to cure his parents’ eye disease. Hidden in the deer herd he was mistaken for a deer by hunters who roundly scolded him. However, when they heard his explanation the hunters had only praise. Here Yenshi and a hunter are conversing.
Robinson: S60.16
Japanese name: Kan no Buntei
Chinese name: Han Wēn-ti
Kan no Buntei was the second emperor of the Han dynasty. He tasted his mother’s food to protect the queen dowager from poisoning. Here the emperor is kneeling before his mother.
Robinson: S60.3
[The above information is all taken directly from the Kuniyoshi Project.]
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The text below was composed by Ryūkatei Tanekazu (柳下亭種員: 1807-58).
The text for the print on the left reads: ?子（えんし） 生質（せいしつ）篤孝（とくかう）なり父母（ふぼ）老（おい）てともに眼病（がんびやう）の患（うれ）ひあり鹿（しか）の乳（ちゝ）妙薬（めうやく）なりといへどもえることかたし何卒（なにとぞ）して是を求（もとめ）んと鹿（しか）の革（かわ）を衣（かつぎ）て深山（しんざん）にゆき鹿（しか）の群（むれ）に入辛苦（しんく）して鹿乳（ろくにう）をえたり猟人（かりびと）遥（はるか）に見てまことの鹿（しか）ぞと思ひ矢（や）をはなさんとなす?子（えんし）そのゆゑをかたりて矢先（やさき）を免（まぬかれ）ぬ假令（たとへ）何（なに）ほどに偽（にする）とも鹿（しか）のわがるいと見（み）まがふべくはあらねどもこれ誠心（せいしん）の徳（とく）によるもの也 種員謹記
The text for the sheet on the right reads: 漢文帝（かんのぶんてい） 漢高祖（かんのかうそ）第三（だいさん）の御子（おんこ）なれども仁賢（じんけん）世（よ）に秀（ひいづ）るゆゑ諸忠臣（もろ／＼のちうしん）すゝめて帝位（ていゐ）に即（つけ）奉る生母（はゝ）は高祖（かうそ）の側室（そばめ）なり文帝（ぶんてい）天下（てんか）を知（しろしめし）給ふて後（のち）薄太后（はくたいこう）と称（しょう）す帝（みかど）孝純（かうじゆん）殊（ことさら）に深く御母（おんはゝ）病（やま）ひに臥（ふし）給ふこと三年（みとせ）寝食（しんしよく）を忘（わす）れて藥餌（やくじ）の介（かい）ほう怠（おこた）り給ふことなかりしとなん抑（そも／＼）漢朝（かんてう）は高祖（かうそ）に興（おこ９るといへども四百年（ねん）の基（もとゐ）を開（ひら）きしは文帝（ぶんてい）の至孝（しいかう）に依（よる）所也 種員謹記
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The left-hand side is illustrated in a full page black and white reproduction in Kuniyoshi by B. W. Robinson, London, Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1961, #38.
Historical - Social - Ephemera (genre)
Fushimiya Zenroku (伏見屋善六) (publisher)
Ryūkatei Tanekazu (柳下亭種員 - 1807-58) (author)
Nijūshikō (二十四孝: The twenty-four filial exemplars) (genre)