Artist: Kitao Masanobu (Santō Kyōden) [北尾政演 (山東京伝)] (Japanese, 1761–1816)
Signed: 益信画 (Masanobu ga)
Date: c. 1770
Media: Woodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper; Hashira-e (pillar print), dimensions 66.3 x 12 cm (26 x 4.75 in)

Title: Parody of the Nō Play Chōryō (Nō Chōryō no mitate, 能長良の見立)

Description:
This hashira-e (pillar print) is an early work by Kitao Masanobu (Santō Kyōden) [北尾政演 (山東京伝)], a celebrated writer, poet, and ukiyo-e artist of the Edo period. He studied under [Kitao Shigemasa (北尾 重政)](see SVJP-0006) and initially signed his artworks under the name 益信 (Masanobu), as seen here. He later gained widespread fame for his illustrated kibyōshi and satirical writings under the name Santō Kyōden.

The composition parodies a well-known Chinese legend dramatized in Nō theatre: the encounter between Chōryō (Zhāng Liáng) and the legendary elder Kōsekikō (Huáng Shigōng). While crossing a bridge, the elder dropped a sandal, and the younger man humbly retrieved it. In return, he was given a book of military strategy that helped him later in the founding of the Han dynasty (207 BC–AD 220). The story is a classic tale of humility rewarded by wisdom.

The subject has also appeared under alternative titles such as Parody of Huáng Shigōng and Zhāng Liáng (David Waterhouse, The Harunobu Decade, Hotei Publishing, 2013, vol. 2, №651). The design humorously adapts this ancient story into an Edo-period idiom, possibly with contemporary characters or comic distortion.

References:

• David Waterhouse, The Harunobu Decade (2013), #651

• Ukiyo-e shūka supplement 2 (1982), pl. 625

• Pins, The Japanese Pillar Print (1982), #274/p.145

• J. Kurth, Die Geschichte…, vol. II, Leipzig, 1928

• S. Kikuchi, Ukiyo-e, 1966

• Walters Art Museum, online collection entry