Utagawa Kuniyoshi (歌川国芳) (artist 11/15/1797 – 03/05/1861)
'An Old Picture of an Up-to-Date Teruuji at the Old Temple' (Imayō Teruuji kodera no kozu - 今様輝氏古寺之古図) - a Rustic Genji theme
1851
31 in x 15 in (Overall dimensions) Japanese color woodblock print
Signed: Ichiyūsai Kuniyoshi ga
一勇斎国芳画
Artist's seal: kiri in red
Publisher: Sawaya Kōkichi (Marks 460 seal 16-109)
Censors' seals: Kinugasa and Watanabe
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
British Museum
Waseda University - right panel only
Hagi Uragami Museum of Art - right panel
Hagi Uragami Museum of Art - center panel
Hagi Uragami Museum of Art - left panel
National Museums of Scotland right panel
National Museums of Scotland - center panel
National Museums of Scotland - left panel
Lyon Collection - Kunisada triptych on the same theme
Lyon Collection - tetraptych by Sadanobu showing Shinonome with a demon mask
Bibliothèque nationale de France - three separate prints in an album, #'s 3, 4 and 5 A visit to a run down temple by Mitsuuji (not Teruuji, nor the Shining Prince) and Tasogare in the Nise Murasaki inaka Genji
Before we tell you the story of their visit, let us make one thing clear: all three figures - Mitsuuji, Teruuji and the original Shining Prince of The Tale of Genji are all variations on the same theme. The Prince first appeared in the early 11th century and the other two not until 800 years later, but they are all related with Mitsuuji being a derivative of Genji and Teruuji derivative of Mitsuuji. Keeping that in mind, their is little to no difference between the latter two.
In Book 5 of the 'Rustic Genji', Mitsuuji and Tasogare have fled her home by having Mitsuuji kick out a wall at the back and escaping without their sandals via an overgrown path up a hill to a dilapidated temple. They are trying to escape from Tasogare's mother, Shinonome, who has been possessed by the jealous spirit of Mitsuuji's neglected wife. Shinonome or her possessed body are in a murderous mood and hence the need to escape.
"Although the pure white moon shone brilliantly, a breeze began to blow, and they found themselves in a sudden rain shower. And there, beside the path, stood a stone statue of the gentle bodhisattva Jizō. Regarding this as a sign of good karma, Mitsuuji took the wide sedge hat that a pilgrim had placed on the statue and held it above their heads."
"Look," he said, "someone wrote 'Paradise in the next life' and 'We two traveling together on it. That means we'll both go to the Pure Land paradise after we die and live together happily in the next life, too."
A little further on it says: "Then Mitsuuji made out the faint flame of a lamp flickering up ahead. "Ah!" he said, "there a big temple up there. I used to know the head monk very well, but he died, and no one lives there any more. I heard it was abandoned, but there must be a monk still living in it. Let's stay there for the night. When it gets light, I'll take you the rest of the way to Saga." Shinonome figured that was probably the place where she would find them.
Mitsuuji yelled out and a single monk appeared. Our hero made up a lie about who he and the woman were and why they were there. However, the monk remembered him from a visit to the shogunal palace a year before, but did not let on as to what he knew. Tasogare remained frightened, so Mitsuuji tried to comfort her. "If the darkness frightens you, come over here," he said, walking with her to the porch. The moon shone down even more brightly than before... There was something eerie about the temple. Mitsuuji closed the paper-covered sliding doors, but wind came in between the cracks, causing the lamp to flicker repeatedly. A strip of paper dangling from a ripped standing screen swayed back and forth like a tuft of long grass, and Tasogare felt it was calling to her. The room became completely quiet, and then suddenly - was it a shadow? - a woman's shape appeared. It glared at Mitsuuji."
Tasogare felt very threatened, but Mitsuuji swore he would protect her. The lamp where they were had gone out, but in time the monk reappeared with another lamp. He led them into the visitor's hall in which he had placed some tatami mats. "Unlike the previous room, this one was beautifully decorated and furnished, but rain had leaked through the roof and formed streaks like long strands of the Nunobiki Waterfall down the pictures painted on the sliding doors.... Soon the monk brought them some rice gruel and fruit he had prepared." Then the monk tried to tidy the space up, but when he lifted the hat he saw what was written on it "...and stared at the words with a puzzled expression."
"After they [Mitsuuji and Tasogare] were alone again, Mitsuuji continued to comfort and encourage Tasogare in the abandoned guest room. It must have been past midnight. A strong wind was blowing, and they could hear the rough soughing of many pines. The weak, low voice fo an owl made them feel even lonelier. Then the woman's shape appeared again. She was a demon woman now, and she kicked her way through the sliding doors, which were painted with an aristocrat's oxcart. She waved her horns, which were like the gnarled old branches, and in one hand she held an iron pole. Her eyes bore down on the two."
[The choice of bold type is ours. The oxcart is reminiscent of the Heartvine chapter of the original Tale of Genji. The wheel is also a substitute for the wheel of the Buddhist law and of karma, a law of birth, death, rebirth, death and so on.]
"Other people," she said, "have listened to Buddhist preachings and ridden on the cart of the Buddhist law, escaping from the burning house of existence. Yet I - have I not destroyed the cart painted on those doors? I am one of those who will never escape. Ah, how unbearable this sadness is.... Who am I? The angry soul of Lady Futaba, whom you once loved but now neglect."
Mitsuuji recognizes one of Lady Futaba's robes on the demon, but laughs at and mocks it anyway. The mask she is carrying in her teeth is that if Lady Rokujō worn in the noh play. The red and white staff she is carrying is said to be of the dandara-pattern. She drops the staff and reveals a knife.
Source and quotes from: Early Modern Japanese Literature: An Anthology 1600-1900, edited by Haruo Shirane, Columbia University Press, 2002, pages 816ff.
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"The setting is an abandoned temple on a lonely moonlit moor. Teruuji, standing in the centre, offers a hand towel to his lover Tasogare, who kneels on the ruined veranda wiping her feet with a cloth. From the next room they are spied on by a mysterious female figure dressed in an elaborate costume of a Nō drama, wielding a red and white stage 'wand' in one hand and gripping the cords of a she-devil (Hannya) mask in her teeth. She is Shinonome, Tasogare's mother, who has stolen an heirloom sword that Teruuji is searching for. In the next scene, wearing the she-devil mask, she will attack the lovers and threaten Tasogare with the sword. The design is a tour de force of cutting and printing, particularly in the way it captures the effect of the painting peeling from the sliding panels that separate two rooms."
Quoted from: Kuniyoshi From the Arthur R. Miller Collection by Timothy Clark, p. 236.
This triptych does not represent any actual scene from the Teruuji-based novels or plays which were themselves take offs on the early Mitsuuji, Rustic Genji novels which were very loosely related to the original classic The Tale of Genji.
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"The scene is probably taken from act 8 of Higashiyama sakura sōshi. The setting is a dilapidated temple where Mitsuuji and his lover, Tasogare, have taken shelter. They are surprised by the sudden appearance of Shinonome, Tasogare's mother, whose family was exterminated by the Ashikaga clan. She confesses to stealing the sword known as Kogarasumaru, the missing Ashikaga heirloom for which Mitsuuji has been searching, and approaches Mitsuuji, intending to murder him."
Quoted from Sebastian Izzard's Kunisada's World, p. 168.
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Use the enlargement tool so you won't miss seeing the carved wooden fish, a mokugyo, hanging from the rafters at the top of the left panel near the full moon. Also, enlarge the figure on the right who is holding a Nō mask of a female demon. There is tetraptych by Sadanobu in the Lyon Collection which shows a figure of Shinonome holding a similar mask. (See the link above.)
Look closely at the symbolism of the tattered screen
Bryan Fijalkovich in his master's thesis pointed out the symbolism of the wheel of the cart on the ragged screen in the Rustic Genji. In Chapter 5 he notes: "Shinonome makes Buddhist references that sound as if paraphrased directly from the play Aoi no ue, such as: “Retribution in this world is like the revolving wheel of the small oxcart.” The script of the play Aoi no ue contains similar statements: “Like the wheels of an ox-drawn carriage the wretched world goes round and round in retribution.” Both refer to the Buddhist cycle of rebirth. The statements above are echoed by the depiction of a carriage wheel on the screen behind Mitsuuji and Shinonome." (JSV)
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The tattered screen of the painting of the cart is a direct reference to Chapter Nine of the Tale of Genji
There is a famous scene in the Tale of Genji where everyone gathers to see a procession to the Kamo Shrine. Ladies in particular want to see Genji as he passes. Among these women is one who wants to keep a particularly low profile, the Lady Rokujō. She had had a romantic tryst with Genji in one of the early chapters, but has been all but ignored since. Now she feels jealous and resentful.
In this representation of the Rustic Genji Lady Rokujō is represented by the evil Shinonome on the right. The Genji substitute is in the middle with his current lover, here represented by Tasogare, kneeling on the left. The tattered painting on the screen behind them shows the cart. Is this meant to be Lady Rokujō's cart? Most probably. The references and the symbolism is clear.
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Illustrated
1) in a small black and white reproduction in Essays on Japanese Art Presented to Jack Hillier in an essay by Eiko Kondo, 'Inaka Genji Series', pl. 12, fig. 12, p. 84.
2) in color in Kuniyoshi From the Arthur R. Miller Collection by Timothy Clark, on pp. 236-7.
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There is another copy of this triptych in the Sekisui Museum of Art.
Sawaya Kōkichi (沢屋幸吉) (publisher)
Genji related prints (Genji-e - 源氏絵) (genre)
Ryūtei Tanehiko (柳亭種彦) (author)