#Utagawa Kunisada II

[arthistoryanimalia]

More for #ILoveHorsesDay ❤️🐴:

Horses, a New Publication (Shimpan uma zukushi)

Color woodblock prints

c.1847-8 by Utagawa Hiroshige II (Japan, 1826–1869), 377x257mm

1874 by Utagawa Kunisada III (Japan, 1848–1920), 337x225mm

Legion of Honor Museum 1963.30.1472, 1963.30.5519

[nishiki-e]

Actors Bandô Shûka and Sawamura Tanosuke in the role of Hanaregoma Chôkichi by Utagawa Kunisada and Utagawa Kunisada II respectively.

[love1kimono]

Estampe japonaise sur papier crêpe (Musée du Luxembourg, Paris)

Genji moderne. Visite du jardin

Ces estampes tirées sur papier crêpe étaient collectionnées par Léon Monet qui était amateur d'art japonais comme son frère Claude. Au Japon, ces papiers imprimés servaient aux emballages.

Oeuvre de Utagawa Kunisada II

Gravure sur bois, tirage sur papier crêpe

Éditeur : Isetatsu

Collection particulière

Ancienne collection Léon Monet

[paskuda-lynx]

i still can't believe that my brain's capable of comprehending and building so many complicated concepts and yet my latest idea of ATLA fanfic plot is a fucking EPIC DRAGON FIGHT.

i watched Avatar for the first time when I was like. Eight. Somehow certain things in the show continue to cause the exact same enthusiasm as if my age is Still Eight.

Here I am. It doesn't matter if I can identify the age and general wellbeing of a bird by a single flight feather. It doesn't matter what can I say about habitus of an animal on a clinical examination.

It doesn't matter, because yes but WHAT IF Azula purposely curses herself to be DRAGON AT DAYLIGHT but the curse affects her brother too?! What then?!

I can already see Sokka going "Well, no biggie, if you're human only while the sun is sat, why don't you relocate to the Poles? We have polar nights like, for half of the year! And! When the night is over on one pole, you can just fly to another, so you would See No Sun Ever! ...Alright, I'll admit, in my head the idea sounded a lot better."

i'm ashamed. i feel eight years old. i wanna a dragon story anyway.

[japaneseaesthetics]

Actors Onoe Kikujirô II as Konoshitagawa Kôsuke (R) and Ôtani Tomomatsu I as Hanyûya Sukeshirô (L), by Utagawa Kunisada I (Toyokuni III)

[thekimonogallery]

First Snow by Utagawa Kunisada II, 1856

[lavraiemonchichi]

Crowley in my fic

[pmikos]

Utagawa Kunisada II (1823–1880)

Hell Courtesan (Jigoku Dayu)

[classic-asian-art]

Sawarabi, Nr. 48 in der Reihe, Murasaki Shikibu Genji Cards, 1857 von Utagawa Kunisada II

(1857, colour woodblock print)

[proficient-in-hoarding-deadlines]

Do you ever see an unfunny meme

and feel the overwhelming urge to destroy its (attempt at) humor by treating it as a research prompt? That happened to me recently when I saw this:

If I had to place my discontent with the punchline, it’s that it enforces a stereotype instead of breaking it. What’s more, as one of my friends noted upon seeing the meme, it employs the picture to power the punchline. The style of ukiyo-e prints does generally make faces look similar.

The only catch is, there are other ways to distinguish characters in a picture, and ukiyo-e artists weren’t afraid to overuse them in order to make everything crystally clear to everybody even half-literate. The first clue are the clothes & accessoires. They let the viewer guess the characters' gender and social status. The style of the clothes and its colour, as well as the presence of heraldic symbols or class symbols (like swords) are the things to look at. If we’re talking famous characters, they may have certain fixed poses/attires/objects by which they are easily recognized. Another important clue is when the artist puts the name of the person in the picture right next to them on a special plaque.

All this is not to say that all faces in ukiyo-e prints are the same. Sure, from early on in Japanese visual art there is a trend of drawing faces in as few and as simple lines as possible (引目鉤鼻, hikime kagibana, or, "slit-eyes and hook-nose")*. But by the late Edo period (to which this print belongs) it is customary to add some individuality into the characters’ features. I think the influence of Sharaku’s caricature-like portraits** here.

In my experience, the two types of sword-wielding characters that come up in such prints are famous martial heroes and actors. The actual warriors are often depicted alone in detailed, dynamic poses***, while actors can come in groups, acting out famous scenes from various plays. (Needless to say, prints were published in thematic albums). In this particular print, we see a pair of actors. First, they are wearing some elaborate costumes (not regular clothes, nor armour, as it would be appropriate for famous warriors). Second, their faces are clean (and warriors in prints are often bearded and wild-looking to reflect their warlike attitude). Third, the pose looks theatrical in its stillness. Certainly, the artist was good enough to make it as dynamic as was custom for that period, should that have been necessary. Also (and this is more of a gut feeling) the bamboo and the lantern in the background seem like something to do with the theater, too.

Now, the only question that remains is, what’s the play? To answer it I had to scroll quite a bit through google images search until I found the original. It, as expected, came with many inscriptions.

Utagawa Kunisada, 1856

As the cool red lion-plaque in the right corner indicates, the series this print is from is called Seven calligraphic variants of the iroha (清書七伊呂波). Next, a title says that what we see is a scene for the character tsu (つ) from the Kabuki play Tsuzure-no nishiki (襤褸錦, roughly translates as "The brocade of rags"). Which explains the clothes. Next to the title of the play the names of the characters are listed. The black squares on the left (to the best of my understanding) contain the names of the actors.

More pictures and links under cut!

*hikime kagibana

a close-up of a court lady from Genji monogatari emaki, 12th century (source)

**an actor's portrait by Sharaku

Arashi Ryûzô II as Ishibe Kinkichi, 1794 (source)

***a warrior print

石橋山伏木隠　大場三郎景親 (Ishibashiyama: hidden under a bowed tree; Ōba Saburō Kagechika), by Utagawa Kuniyoshi, mid-19th century (source)

And also

the same scene from Tsuzure-no nishiki in larger scale (same artist, but from about 30 years earlier). The lantern, bamboo and the straw... something seem to indeed be stage decorations/props (source)

P.S. Just remembered that i made another iroha-related post a while ago

[joseandrestabarnia]

Título: Debajo del roble (Capítulo 46), de la serie Naipes de Genji de Murasaki Shikibu

1857

Artista: Utagawa Kunisada II (Japón, 1823 – 1880)

Detalles

Lugar donde se realizó la obra: Japón

Período: Período Edo (Tokugawa) 1615 - 1868 → Japón

Fecha: 1857

Categoría de medios: Imprimir

Materiales usados: grabado en madera; tinta y color sobre papel

Dimensiones: imagen de 32,6 x 23,2 cm; hoja de 32,9 x 23,6 cm

Fecha de firma: Firmado lr, en japonés, tinta negra "[Baichôrô Kunisada ga]". Sin fecha.

Crédito: Donación de GF Williams 1995

Información e imagen de la web de la Art Gallery NSW.

[japonesices]

sundayjump:

”投扇興当姿絵　しらゐや　五郎　光義　牛若伝次”

二代歌川国貞

”Jiraiya, Goro, Mitsuyoshi and Ushiwaka Denji, 

Hair styles of actor for Fan-throwing game”

by  Kunisada II Utagawa

Found here

[sheltiechicago]

Tenjiku Tokubei riding a giant toad.

Amazing Vintage Illustrations Of Japanese Anthropomorphic Frogs and Toads

The Japanese term “kimo-kawaii” means “cute and ugly,” often describing anthropomorphic frogs and toads in art.

Tenjiku Tokubei (1612-1692) inspired kabuki and literature, portraying him as a spell-caster transforming stones into giant toads. This influenced Kanwatei Onitake, creating Jiraiya, a ninja conjuring phantom frogs. Jiraiya starred in the folk tale Katakiuchi Kidan Jiraiya Monogatari, adapted into kabuki and various media. Matsumoto Hoji, a 19th-century artist, created notable frog woodblocks.

Actor Onoe Tamizô II as Tenjiku Tokubei Artist Utagawa Kunisada I (Toyokuni III) (Japanese, 1786–1864), Publisher Kawaguchiya Uhei (Fukusendô) (Japanese) 1841 (Tenpô 12), 7th month.

Actor Onoe Eizaburo I as a Magician with a Giant Toad Woodblock print.

Sumō wrestling toads by Ohara Hōson 1930.

[love1kimono]

"Trois femmes décorant des raquettes de jeu" d'Utagawa Kunisada II (Maison de la culture du Japon, Paris)

Trois femmes décorant des raquettes / Splendeur des quatre ordres sociaux

Les trois femmes fabriquent, décorent et peignent des raquettes de jeu de volant pour le nouvel an.

Un chat semble écouter leur conversation.

Oeuvre d'Utagawa Kunisada II (1823 - 1880)

fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utagawa_Kunisada_II

Vers 1847-1852 (Kyôka - Kaei)

Estampe

[stephiapw]

Utagawa Kunisada II (1823-1880) - Estampe Utsusemi, 1857

[japaneseaesthetics]

Actor Nakamura Shikan II, from Kamigata, formerly Tsurusuke, as Satô Tsuginobu, by Utagawa Kunisada I (Toyokuni III), 1827. Japan