• Farm wives relaxing (<i>Ikou nōfu</i> - 憩う農婦) from the series <i>Kyōka-iri aiban fūzoku zu</i> (狂歌入間判風俗図)
Farm wives relaxing (<i>Ikou nōfu</i> - 憩う農婦) from the series <i>Kyōka-iri aiban fūzoku zu</i> (狂歌入間判風俗図)
Farm wives relaxing (<i>Ikou nōfu</i> - 憩う農婦) from the series <i>Kyōka-iri aiban fūzoku zu</i> (狂歌入間判風俗図)

Kitagawa Utamaro (喜多川歌麿) (artist ca 1753 – 1806)

Farm wives relaxing (Ikou nōfu - 憩う農婦) from the series Kyōka-iri aiban fūzoku zu (狂歌入間判風俗図)

Print


ca 1788 – 1790
8.75 in x 12.625 in (Overall dimensions) Japanese woodblock print
Signed: Utamaro ga (哥麿画)
Publisher: Tsutaya Jūzaburō
(Marks 555 - seal 03-002)
Poem by Shingoken Birin (寝語軒美隣) Jōmō (上毛):
I can bear the knocks to my heart,
From my fickle cover,
But the sadness digs into me,
When there is no breeze of romance,
To whisper "I love you"
****

"A 'crimson-avoiding' (beni-girai) or 'purple picture' (murasaki-e) showing farmers' wives taking a rest from their work in the shade of a tree. The kyōka poem above is by Shingoken Birin, signed with the added notation 'Jōmō', refering to Kōzuke Province (present-day Gumma Prefecture), and reads [as seen above]. This is one of a series of genre scenes in aiban format with kyōka poems, published by Tsutaya, and a total of eight desins are presently known."

Quoted from: The Passionate Art of Kitagawa Utamaro by Shugō Asano and Timothy Clark, text volume, p. 95. The example is illustrated in the plates volume in color on page 38 is from a private collection in Japan. There is another copy of this print in the collection of the New York Public Library, but it does not appear to be illustrated online.
Tsutaya Jūzaburō (蔦屋重三郎) (publisher)
beautiful women (bijin-ga - 美人画) (genre)