JAPANESE PRINTS
A MILLION QUESTIONS
TWO MILLION
MYSTERIES
Ukiyo-e Prints
浮世絵版画
|
formerly of Port Townsend, Washington
now Kansas
City, Missouri |
TSUKIOKA
YOSHITOSHI
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月岡芳年 |
1839-1892 |
Series Title:
Kyōkun Zen aku zukai |
教訓善悪圖解 |
"Moral Lessons
Through Pictures of
Good and Evil" |
Date: 1880, 11th
Month |
Publisher:
Tsunashima Kamekichi |
綱島亀吉 |
Size: 6 7/8"
x 9 1/8"
each |
Signed:
(
Yonejiro ?) 芳年戯画 |
There are copies of
both of the
prints featured on this page
in the collection of
the Philadelphia Museum of Art
and at
the Adachi Museum
of Art. |
Note: "This is a
series of caricatures drawn by Yoshitoshi that illlustrate lessons in
morality .
There were originally issued as paired chūban prints which are, these days,
commonly found separate.
The chūban pairs illustrate a "good" example of
behavior, followed by a "bad" example."
Quoted from
Yoshitoshi.net. |
SOLD!
THANKS! |
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綱
島亀吉 |
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Reign Date:
Meiji 13,
11th Month |
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Tsunashima
Kamekichi publisher's mark found in the lower left of each print |
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GOOD vs. EVIL
or
WHAT WOULD THE
CHURCH LADY SAY? |
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I read somewhere that there is a Japanese saying that it is better to
receive the scorn of a good person than to be praised by a reprobate. Of
course, I can't swear to the accuracy of that maxim because it was a
translation of a translation of a translation. However, it runs very close
to a quote from Moby Dick where Ishmael reflects that "...it's better
to sail with a moody good captain than a laughing bad one." (1) |
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YOSHITOSHI DID NOT WORK IN ISOLATION |
There is a long traditon in Japanese
woodblock prints of the use of these bubble headed figures representing good
and evil. In the West there have appeared in movies and cartoons of little
angels and little devils, often shown standing on the shoulders of a
character, whispering in their ears, urging them to do good or ill. The
earliest example I have found so far appears in a pillar print by Choki
in the British Museum from circa 1800. (2) |
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Below is a detail of a Kunisada print from circa 1832. |
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(1) Moby Dick, by Herman Melville, Quality Paperback Book Club,
New York, 1996, p. 72.
(2) The Japanese Pillar Print: Hashira-e, by Jacob Pins,
Robert G. Sawers Publishing, London, 1982, cat. #836, p. 300. The catalogue
entry has a descriptive text: "The struggle of conscience. A girl is trying
to detain her lover and two elves are helping her." This is a minor point
because we all make mistakes, but there are three little bubble headed
demons, not two, helping the girl convince her lover to stay. |
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All of
the details in this section are from prints by Choki at the end of the 18th
century or the beginning of the 19th. |
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Above is
a detail from a print by Yoshitoshi's teacher Kuniyoshi. |
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Eishi
detail ca. 1790s. |
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Detail
above from a Yoshifuji child's print ca. 1870. |
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