• Usugumo (薄雲): No. 19, Wisps of Cloud / <i>Ukiyo-e Parallels for the Cloudy Chapters of the Tale of Genji</i> (<i>Genji kumo ukiyoe awase</i> - 源氏雲浮世絵合 )
Usugumo (薄雲): No. 19, Wisps of Cloud / <i>Ukiyo-e Parallels for the Cloudy Chapters of the Tale of Genji</i> (<i>Genji kumo ukiyoe awase</i> - 源氏雲浮世絵合 )
Usugumo (薄雲): No. 19, Wisps of Cloud / <i>Ukiyo-e Parallels for the Cloudy Chapters of the Tale of Genji</i> (<i>Genji kumo ukiyoe awase</i> - 源氏雲浮世絵合 )

Utagawa Kuniyoshi (歌川国芳) (artist 01/01/1797 – 04/14/1861)

Usugumo (薄雲): No. 19, Wisps of Cloud / Ukiyo-e Parallels for the Cloudy Chapters of the Tale of Genji (Genji kumo ukiyoe awase - 源氏雲浮世絵合 )

Print


ca 1845 – 1846
10 in x 14.375 in (Overall dimensions) Japanese woodblock print
Signed: Ichiyūsai Kuniyoshi ga
一勇斎国芳画
Artist's seal: kiri
Publisher: Iseya Ichiemon
(Marks 143 - seal 24-068)
Censor's seal: Mura
British Museum
Tokyo Metropolitan Library
Museum für angewandte Kunst, Vienna
National Diet Library
Lyon Collection - another print from this series
Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg
Lyon Collection - a Yoshitora triptych that includes both Yoshikado and the Earth Spider "Soma Yoshikado [相馬良門] (right) reading from a scroll with the Earth-spider behind him; Uto Yasukata [善知鳥安方] seated cross-legged in the foreground with a drawn sword." This quote is from the British Museum web site.

The curatorial files at the British Museum says of this print series: "Each of the fifty-four chapters of The Tale of Genji is named and is associated with a crest called a 'Genji-mon'. In this series, each of the first fifty-four prints portray various scenes from history, legend, and literature that are suggested by a specific chapter of the novel and the appropriate Genji-mon is shown in the upper left cartouche with a poem. This series consists of one design for each of the fifty-four chapters and six supplementary designs."

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In Undercurrents in the Floating World: Censorship and Japanese Prints Sarah Thompson wrote on page 82: "Those same recognizable facial features presently began to appear on the faces of alleged historical figures in musha-e (warrior prints).... Numerous examples of historical characters with actors' faces appear in two series published in the mid-1840s: Kuniyoshi's Genji Kumo Ukiyo-e Awase (Verses from Genji Matched with Ukiyo-e Pictures) of ca. 1845-46... and Ogura Nazorai Hyakunin Isshu (The Ogura Imitation of the Hundred Poets), a coproduction of Kuniyoshi, Hiroshige and Kunisada, prublished in ca. 1845-48."

This print from the Lyon Collection is a prime example of an actor posed as a historical/mythical figure. Look closely at the facial features of the figure seated on the ground in the lower left.

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There are two prints from this series in the Lyon Collection.

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The text on the scroll at the top reads: 薄雲 いかひさすみねにたなひく薄雲はものおもふ袖に色やまかへる

This was a poem that Prince Genji spoke concerning the death of Fujitsubo:

"Those thin wisps of cloud trailing there over the mountains caught in the sunset light seem to wish to match their hue to the sleeves of the bereaved." The title of Chapter 19 of the The Tale of Genji comes from this poem.

The explanatory text in the lower right is by Hanagasa (花笠外史) Gaishi (画上填詞).

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Illustrated in color in Japanese Yōkai and Other Supernatural Beings: Authentic Paintings and Prints of 100 Ghosts, Demons, Monsters and Magicians by Andreas Marks, Tuttle Publishing, 2023, p. 200. This exact print is the one illustrated in this volume.
Iseya Ichiemon (伊勢屋市右衛門) (publisher)
Yūrei-zu (幽霊図 - ghosts demons monsters and spirits) (genre)
mitate-e (見立て絵) (genre)
Genji related prints (Genji-e - 源氏絵) (genre)