Utagawa Kuniyoshi (歌川国芳) (artist 11/15/1797 – 03/05/1861)
Sai Jun (蔡順) on the left and Chō Kō (張孝) and Chō Rei (張礼) 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
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston - right panel
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston - left panel
Museum für angewandte Kunst, Vienna - left panel
Museum für angewandte Kunst, Vienna - right panel
Tokyo Metropolitan Library - right 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 - left panel only
Art Institute of Chicago - right panel 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.
[18] Sai Jun 蔡順 (Cai Shun)
He offers the black mulberries to his mother;Sai Jun was from a place called Jonan. Toward the end of the age of the man called Ō Mō 王莽, the realm had fallen into terrible disarray, and there were drought and famine, too. Because there was not enough to eat, Sai Jun gathered mulberries for his mother, separating the ripe berries from the unripe ones. At that time, because disorder had swept the land, a band of murderous thieves approached Sai Jun and asked, “Why do you divide your berries according to their two colors?” “I have a mother,” Sai Jun explained, “and I’ll give these ripe ones to her. The unripe ones are for me.” The bandits were evil, hard-hearted men, but they were moved by Sai Jun’s filial piety, and they gave him a bushel of rice and the leg of an ox before going on their way. Sai Jun gave the rice and the meat to his mother, and although he constantly partook of them, too, people say that over the course of his lifetime, he never ran out. This was a result of his filial piety.
bewailing his hunger, his robes are soaked with tears.
The red-browed bandits recognize his filial obedience;
they repay him with meat and rice, and then let him go.
Kimbrough added in footnotes: The bandits have daubed rouge on their eyebrows to distinguish themselves from other men; Jonan 汝南 (Runan) is in present-day Henan and Anhui 安徽 Provinces; Ō Mō (Wang Mang, 45 BC–23 AD) is known as the founder and only emperor of the Xin 新 dynasty (9–23 AD); and the bandits actually gave him two to 斗 of rice, which is equivalent to approximately eighteen liters, or one U.S. bushel.
[21] Chō Kō 張孝 (Zhang Xiao) and Chō Rei 張礼 (Zhang Li)
They happen upon a child of the green forest,“Chō Kō and Chō Rei were brothers. They were supporting their mother, who was over eighty years old, when a famine swept the land. When Chō Rei was out gathering fruit and nuts, a single man approached. Panting with exhaustion, he said that he intended to kill Chō Rei and eat him. Chō Rei replied, “I have an elderly mother, and since I have not fed her yet today, please allow me a little time. I will come right back after I take her something to eat. If I break this promise, then please come to my house and kill my entire family.” With that, he returned home. He served his mother a meal, and then, just as he had promised, he came back to where the man was. Having heard what was afoot, the elder brother Chō Kō followed from behind. Addressing the bandit, he said, “I am fatter than Chō Rei, so I would be better to eat. Please kill me and spare my brother.” Chō Rei said, “But I made an arrangement with him first.” Thus, the two brothers argued over who would die. The wicked man was moved by the brothers’ righteousness and filial piety, and he let them both live. Observing that there had rarely been such brothers in the past or the present, he gave them two bushels of rice and one horseload of salt. Chō Kō and Chō Rei took it home, and people say that they pursued the Way of Filial Piety even more than before.”
and to be boiled instead, one speaks of fat versus thin.
Everyone has a brother, but whether
now or then, few have been like the brothers Chō.
In footnotes Kimbrough added: "The names Chō Kō and Chō Rei are written with characters that can mean, “stretched with filial piety” and “stretched with propriety.” And, “Child of the green forest” is a euphemism for a bandit."
****
The text below was composed by Ryūkatei Tanekazu (柳下亭種員: 1807-58).
The text to the right panel reads: 張孝（ちやうかう）張禮（ちやうれい） 兄弟（けいてい）なり父（ちゝ）におくれ母に事（つか）へて孝（かう）なり一年米穀（べいこく）豊（ゆたか）ならず大に饒作（けうさく）の時幼童（えうとう）の身として老母を養（やしな）ふたよりなく木（こ）の実（み）を拾（ひろ）ひて供（まいら）すとて張礼（ちやうれい）は山にゆきけるに林間（りんかん）に賊（ぞく）ありて張礼を烹（にて）喰（く）はんといふ礼（れい）大ひにおどろき我（われ）一人の母に此食（しょく）を与（あた）へふたゝび来らんと約（やく）して帰（かへり）しが兄の張孝これをきゝて両個（ふたり）死（し）をゆつり合てやます賊（ぞく）これを□じ米二石（こく）塩（しほ）一駄（た）をあたへ去（さ）りしとなん
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 chuban pages (about 9.5 x 6.75 inches). The were once bound together in an album.
Japanese name: Saijun
Chinese name: Ts’ai Shun
During a famine, Saijun went into the forest to pick berries for his mother and divided his take into ripe and unripe berries. Later, when accosted by brigands and asked about the berries, he explained that he intended to eat the unripe berries and give the ripe ones to his mother. The rebels were so impressed that they gave Saijun some meat to take home. Here Saijun encounters the brigands.
Robinson: S60.17
Japanese name: Chōkō and Chōrei
Chinese name: Chang Hsiao and Chang Li
Chōkō and Chōrei were brothers who, to support their 80 year old mother, gathered berries in the forest. One day on his way home Chōkō was attacked by robbers. As he had no money, the robbers wanted to kill him, but Chōkō begged that he might first deliver the food. Just then Chōrei appeared and offered his own life in place of his brother’s. So impressed were the robbers that they set both brothers free and gave them salt and rice. Here Chōrei is offering his own life in place of his brother’s.
Robinson: S60.21
[The above English-language information is all taken directly from the Kuniyoshi Project.]
****
The right-hand panel is also illustrated in a small color reproduction in Chikanobu: Modernity and Nostalgia in Japanese Prints by Bruce A. Coats, Hotei Publishing, 2006, fig. 3, p. 12.
Historical - Social - Ephemera (genre)
Fushimiya Zenroku (伏見屋善六) (publisher)
Ryūkatei Tanekazu (柳下亭種員) (author)
Nijūshikō (二十四孝: The twenty-four filial exemplars) (genre)