Okakura Shūsui (岡倉秋水) (artist 1867 – 1950)
Illustration to Fontaine from volume 2 - fable of monkey riding on a dolphin (Choix de fables de La Fontaine illustrées par un groupe des meilleurs artistes de Tokio sous la direction de P. Barboutau)
1894
12.625 in x 9.75 in (Overall dimensions) Japanese woodblock print
Signed: Shūsui (秋水)
International Research Center for Japanese Studies
Bibliothèque nationale de France (via Europeana, #8) In the middle-ground on the far right a storm-tossed ship with a broken mast is about to sink. Two men, lower down, are trying not to drown. There is a castle on the hill in the upper left.
From the Fables Choisies De La Fontaine.
Two volumes. 28 double page colour woodcuts. Choix de fables illustrated by Kajita Hankō (梶田半古), Kano Tomonobu (狩野友信: 1843-1912), Okakura Shūsui (岡倉秋水), Kawanabe Kyosui (河鍋暁翠: 1868-1935) and Eda Mahiko (枝貞彦), under the direction of Pierre Barboutau (馬留武黨: 1862-1916). The carver was Kimura Tokutarō (木村徳太郎: 1842-1906).
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Below is a translation from the French into English by Elizur Wright of Fontaine's version of 'The Monkey and the Dolphin':
It was the custom of the Greeks****
For passengers o'er sea to carry
Both monkeys full of tricks
And funny dogs to make them merry.
A ship, that had such things on deck,
Not far from Athens, went to wreck.
But for the dolphins, all had drown'd.
They are a philanthropic fish,
Which fact in Pliny may be found;--
A better voucher who could wish?
They did their best on this occasion.
A monkey even, on their plan
Well nigh attain'd his own salvation;
A dolphin took him for a man,
And on his dorsal gave him place.
So grave the silly creature's face,
That one might well have set him down
That old musician of renown.
The fish had almost reach'd the land,
When, as it happen'd,--what a pity!--
He ask'd, 'Are you from Athens grand?'
'Yes; well they know me in that city.
If ever you have business there,
I'll help you do it, for my kin
The highest offices are in.
My cousin, sir, is now lord mayor.'
The dolphin thank'd him, with good grace,
Both for himself and all his race,
And ask'd, 'You doubtless know Piraeus,
Where, should we come to town, you'll see us.'
'Piraeus? yes, indeed I know;
He was my crony long ago.'
The dunce knew not the harbour's name,
And for a man's mistook the same.
The people are by no means few,
Who never went ten miles from home,
Nor know their market-town from Rome,
Yet cackle just as if they knew.
The dolphin laugh'd, and then began
His rider's form and face to scan,
And found himself about to save
From fishy feasts, beneath the wave,
A mere resemblance of a man.
So, plunging down, he turn'd to find
Some drowning wight of human kind.
One of his seals reads: "Many-headed dragon: many-tailed dragon".
picture book (ehon - 絵本) (genre)
Meiji era (明治時代: 1868-1912) (genre)