Misplaced Pages

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Curly Turkey (talk | contribs) at 06:07, 7 February 2017. The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Kōmei Bijin Rokkasen (高名美人六家撰, "Renowned Beauties from the Six Best Houses") is a series of ukiyo-e prints designed by the Japanese artist Utamaro and published in the 1790s. The names of the women appear do not appear in the prints, but must be deciphered from a picture-puzzle in the rebus in the top corner of each print.

Publication and analysis

The six prints are multicolour nishik-e prints in ōban size (about 38 by 25 centimetres (15 in × 10 in)). They were published in c. 1796 by Ōmiya Gonkurō [ja].

A rebus appears in the corner of each print bearing the title Kōmei Bijin Rokkasen (高名美人六家撰, "Renowned Beauties from the Six Best Houses") and a hanji-e picture-puzzle.

Retitled versions of the prints appeared in a later series titled Fūryū Rokkasen (風流六歌撰, "Elegant Six Immortal Poets"). "Rokkasen" is spellt with different kanji characters in the two series; the earlier is a parody of the latter, which is derived from the rokkasen "six poetry immortals". Both series were published by Ōmiya Kenkura and are signed Utamaro hitsu (歌麿筆). Estimated publication dates range from 1794 to 1798.

Naniwaya O-Kita

Naniwaya O-Kita (難波屋おきた)

Tatsumi Rokō

Tatsumi Rokō (辰巳路考)

Portrays the geisha Rokō of the Tatsumi district. In the Fūryū Rokkasen version she is matched with the poet Sōjō Henjō.

Takashimaya O-Hisa

Takashimaya O-Hisa (高島屋おひさ)

Ōgiya Hanaōgi

Ōgiya Hanaōgi (扇屋花扇)

the courtesan Hanaōgi of the Ōgiya as she compses a letter

Hinodeya goke (Asahiya goke)

The Hinodeya goke (日の出屋後家, "The Hinodeya widow"), also Asahiya goke (朝日屋後家, "The Asahiya widow") was one of the most popular beauties in Edo at the time of publication. At the time, the image of a woman with shaven eyebrows after a bath was considered particularly erotic.

A shogunal edict of 1796 (one of the Kansei Reforms) banned the naming of models in ukiyo-e pictures. To get around this restriction—and perhaps to add the pleasure of a puzzle for viewers to solve—Utamaro symbolizes the name of the model with image in the rebus in the top left: the rising sun refers either to the Hinodeya or to the Asahiya (both asahi and hinode meaning "rising sun"), and the Go board and lock of hair (ke) combine to make go-ke, homophonous with goke for "widow".

Tomimoto Toyohina

Tomimoto Toyohina (富本豊雛)

References

1. ^ Yamaguchi 1991, p. 49.
2. ^ Kobayashi 2006, p. 12.
3. Michener 1983, p. 334.
4. Powell 1990, pp. 336–337.
5. Powell 1990, p. 336.
6. ^ Kobayashi 2000, p. 17. sfn error: no target: CITEREFKobayashi2000 (help)
7. Suzuki 2016, pp. 84–86.

Works cited

• Kobayashi, Tadashi (2000). Utamaro: Portraits from the Floating World. Kodansha International. ISBN 978-4-7700-2730-6. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Kobayashi, Tadashi (2006). Utamaro no Bijin 歌麿の美人 (in Japanese). Shogakukan. ISBN 978-4-09-652105-2. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help); Unknown parameter |trans_title= ignored (|trans-title= suggested) (help)
• Michener, James Albert (1983). The Floating World. University of Hawaii Press. ISBN 978-0-8248-0873-0. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Powell, Patricia (1990). The Edward Burr Van Vleck Collection of Japanese Prints. Chazen Museum of Art. ISBN 978-0-932900-24-1. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Suzuki, Yukiko (2016). Ukiyo-e no Onna-tachi 浮世絵の女たち [Women of Ukiyo-e] (in Japanese). Gentosha. ISBN 978-4-344-02950-7. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Yamaguchi, Keizaburō, ed. (1991). Utamaro 歌麿 [Collected Famous Works of Ukiyo-e]. Meihin Soroimono Ukiyo-e. Vol. 3. Gyōsei. ISBN 978-4-324-02488-1. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help); Unknown parameter |script-series= ignored (help)

• Japan
• Visual arts

Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).