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Fan Print With Two Bugaku Dancers (Kunisada)
''Fan print with two bugaku dancers'' is an ''ukiyo-e'' woodblock print dating to sometime between the mid 1820s and 1844 by celebrated Edo period artist Utagawa Kunisada, also known as Toyokuni III. This print is simultaneously an example of the ''uchiwa-e'' (fan print) and '' aizuri-e'' (monochromatic blue print) genres. It is part of the permanent collection of the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Canada. ''Uchiwa-e'' ''Uchiwa'' (団扇) are non-folding, flat, oval fans. They are still used today for cooling rice in the preparation of sushi, in dance performances, and as a cooling tool. Historically, ''uchiwa'' were a predominantly female accessory, men typically carrying folding fans known as ''ōgi'' (扇), ''suehiro'' (末広) or ''sensu'' (扇子).Salter 2006, 25 They are associated with summer, traditionally having been sold only during the summer months, and decorated with summer imagery. At least one modern critic argues that, due to their use by women during periods of he ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ukiyo-e
Ukiyo-e is a genre of Japanese art which flourished from the 17th through 19th centuries. Its artists produced woodblock prints and paintings Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ... of such subjects as female beauties; kabuki actors and sumo wrestlers; scenes from history and folk tales; travel scenes and landscapes; Flora of Japan, flora and Wildlife of Japan#Fauna, fauna; and Shunga, erotica. The term translates as "picture[s] of the floating world". In 1603, the city of Edo (Tokyo) became the seat of the ruling Tokugawa shogunate. The ''chōnin'' class (merchants, craftsmen and workers), positioned at the bottom of Four occupations, the social order, benefited the most from the city's rapid economic growth, and began to indulge in and patronise the entertainment o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Indigo
Indigo is a deep color close to the color wheel blue (a primary color in the RGB color space), as well as to some variants of ultramarine, based on the ancient dye of the same name. The word "indigo" comes from the Latin word ''indicum'', meaning "Indian", as the dye was originally exported to Europe from India. It is traditionally regarded as a color in the visible spectrum, as well as one of the seven colors of the rainbow: the color between blue and violet; however, sources differ as to its actual position in the electromagnetic spectrum. The first known recorded use of indigo as a color name in English was in 1289. History ''Indigofera tinctoria'' and related species were cultivated in East Asia, Egypt, India, Bangladesh and Peru in antiquity. The earliest direct evidence for the use of indigo dates to around 4000 BC and comes from Huaca Prieta, in contemporary Peru. Pliny the Elder mentions India as the source of the dye after which it was named. It was importe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sumo
is a form of competitive full-contact wrestling where a ''rikishi'' (wrestler) attempts to force his opponent out of a circular ring (''dohyō'') or into touching the ground with any body part other than the soles of his feet (usually by throwing, shoving or pushing him down). Sumo originated in Japan, the only country where it is practiced professionally and where it is considered the national sport. It is considered a ''gendai budō'', which refers to modern Japanese martial arts, but the sport has a history spanning many centuries. Many ancient traditions have been preserved in sumo, and even today the sport includes many ritual elements, such as the use of salt purification, from Shinto. Life as a wrestler is highly regimented, with rules regulated by the Japan Sumo Association. Most sumo wrestlers are required to live in communal sumo training stables, known in Japanese as ''heya'', where all aspects of their daily lives—from meals to their manner of dress—are dic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yūrei-zu
''Yūrei-zu'' (幽霊図) are a genre of Japanese art consisting of painted or woodblock print images of ghosts, demons and other supernatural beings. They are considered to be a subgenre of ''fūzokuga'', "pictures of manners and customs."Schaap 1998, 17 These types of art works reached the peak of their popularity in Japan in the mid- to late 19th century.Addis 1985, 178 ''Yūrei'' Literally translatable as ‘faint (''yū'' - 幽) spirit (''rei'' - 霊),’ ''yūrei'' is just one of several Japanese words used to refer to spirit beings. Other terms include: ''obake'' (お化け), ''yōkai'' (妖怪), ''bōrei'' (亡霊), and ''shiryō'' (死霊). There is a long tradition of belief in the supernatural in Japan stemming from a variety of influences. Imported sources include Buddhism, Taoism and List of supernatural beings in Chinese folklore, Chinese folklore. The most notable influence, however, is Shinto, Shintō, a native Japanese animism, animistic religion which presuppose ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bijinga
is a generic term for pictures of beautiful women () in Japanese art, especially in woodblock printing of the ukiyo-e genre. Definition defines as a picture that simply "emphasizes the beauty of women", and the ''Shincho Encyclopedia of World Art'' defines it as depiction of "the beauty of a woman's appearance". On the other hand, defines as pictures that explore "the inner beauty of women". For this reason, the essence of cannot always be expressed only through the depiction of a , a woman aligning with the beauty image. In fact, in ukiyo-e , it was not considered important that the picture resemble the facial features of the model, and the depiction of women in ukiyo-e is stylized rather than an attempt to create a realistic image; For example, throughout the Edo period (1603-1867), married women had a custom of shaving their eyebrows (), but in , there was a rule to draw the eyebrows for married women. History Ukiyo-e itself is a genre of woodblock prints and pain ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yakusha-e
''Yakusha-e'' (役者絵), often referred to as "actor prints" in English, are Japanese woodblock prints or, rarely, paintings, of kabuki actors, particularly those done in the ''ukiyo-e'' style popular through the Edo period (1603–1867) and into the beginnings of the 20th century. Most strictly, the term ''yakusha-e'' refers solely to portraits of individual artists (or sometimes pairs, as seen in this work by Sharaku). However, prints of kabuki scenes and of other elements of the world of the theater are very closely related, and were more often than not produced and sold alongside portraits. ''Ukiyo-e'' images were almost exclusively images of urban life; the vast majority that were not landscapes were devoted to depicting courtesans, sumo, or kabuki. Realistic detail, inscriptions, the availability of playbills from the period, and a number of other resources have allowed many prints to be analyzed and identified in great detail. Scholars have been able to identify the subj ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Surimono
are a genre of Japanese woodblock print. They were privately commissioned for special occasions such as the New Year. Surimono literally means "printed thing". Being produced in small numbers for a mostly educated audience of ''literati'', surimono were often more experimental in subject matter and treatment, and extravagant in printing technique, than commercial prints. They were most popular from the 1790s to the 1830s, and many leading artists produced them. One of the most famous woodblock artists who got his start from producing surimono was Suzuki Harunobu, credited with being the genius behind the later introduction (in the 1760s) of Nishiki-e ("brocade prints"). Use In most cases, surimono were commissioned by poetry societies to illustrate the winning poem in a poetry contest judged by the master of the society. Such prints generally had a small format, often c. 205 × 185 mm, and the relief carving of the Kanji characters took a great deal of technical skill. Ka ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shunga (art)
is a type of Japanese erotic art typically executed as a kind of ukiyo-e, often in woodblock print format. While rare, there are also extant erotic painted handscrolls which predate ukiyo-e. Translated literally, the Japanese word ''shunga'' means ''picture of spring''; "spring" is a common euphemism for sex. Shunga, as a subset of ukiyo-e, was enjoyed by all social groups in the Edo period, despite being out of favor with the shogunate. The ukiyo-e movement sought to idealize contemporary urban living and appeal to the new chōnin class. Shunga followed the aesthetics of everyday life and widely varied in its depictions of sexuality. Most ukiyo-e artists made shunga at some point in their careers. History Shunga was heavily influenced by illustrations in Chinese medicine manuals beginning in the Muromachi era (1336 to 1573). Zhou Fang, a notable Tang-dynasty Chinese painter, is also thought to have been influential. He, like many artists of his time, tended to draw gen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kunisada II
Utagawa Kunisada II (, 1823 – 20 July 1880) was a Japanese '' ukiyo-e'' print designer, one of three to take the name "Utagawa Kunisada". He headed the Utagawa school. Life and career Little is known of Kunisada II's early life. A pupil of Utagawa Kunisada I, he signed much of his early work "Kunimasa III". His earliest known prints date to 1844. Kunisada I adopted him in 1846 after he married the master's daughter Osuzu. He took the name Kunisada II , about the time he inherited the house of Kunisada I. He changed his name once more following his master's death, to Toyokuni III. However, since there were three artists called Toyokuni before him, Kunisada II is now often known as Toyokuni IV. Kunisada II worked in the style of his master, but never achieved the same level of success. His prints include over 40 series, mostly of actors ('' yakusha-e''), as well portraits of beauties, illustrations of scenes from literature, erotica, and other subjects. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kuchi-e
are frontispieces of books, especially woodblock printed frontispieces for Japanese romance novels and literary magazines published from the 1890s to the 1910s.Newland, p. 463 They usually portrayed women and were bound to the book's spine or inserted into literary magazines to give readers a sense of what type of stories were to unfold. Most were woodblock prints in romance novels intended for a female audience. Some were lithographs Lithography () is a planographic method of printing originally based on the immiscibility of oil and water. The printing is from a stone (lithographic limestone) or a metal plate with a smooth surface. It was invented in 1796 by the German a ..., and some were inserted into other types of literature. The first mass-produced publication to regularly feature designs popular literary magazine , with over 230 individual inserted from 1895 to 1914. Most measured either or , the former being folded in thirds, and the latter being folded in h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Toyokuni I
Utagawa Toyokuni ( ja, 歌川豊国; 1769 in Edo – 24 February 1825 in Edo), also often referred to as Toyokuni I, to distinguish him from the members of his school who took over his ''gō'' (art-name) after he died, was a great master of ukiyo-e, known in particular for his kabuki actor prints. He was the second head of the renowned Utagawa school of Japanese woodblock artists, and was the artist who elevated it to the position of great fame and power it occupied for the rest of the nineteenth century. Biography He was born in Edo, the son of Kurahashi Gorobei, a carver of dolls and puppets, including replicas of kabuki actors. At around 14, Toyokuni was apprenticed to the first head of the Utagawa house, Utagawa Toyoharu, whom his father knew well and who lived nearby. One of his fellow pupils under Toyoharu was Toyohiro, whose pupil was the great landscape artist Hiroshige. In recognition of his artistic ability, Toyokuni later took the name Utagawa Toyokuni, f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
_Three_Beauties_of_the_Present_Time%2C_MFAB_21.6382.jpg "Click for more on -> Bijinga")
