Utagawa Kunisada (Toyokuni III). Spring Shoots (Wakana), from the series 'Graceful Figures from [...]' – Yasa sugata yukari no [...] / Fan print, IIic/1852.

Artist: Utagawa Kunisada [歌川国貞] (Japanese, 1786–1865), also known as Toyokuni III [三代目歌川豊国] Signed: 豊国画 (Toyokuni ga) Publisher: Sanoya Kihei [佐野屋喜兵衛] (seal name Sanoki [佐野喜], active c. 1717–1875) Date: Kaei 5 (1852), intercalary second month (2ic; 閏二月), Year of the Rat; 21 March–18 April 1852; seal: ne, san (子弎). Censors: Mera Ta’ichirō [目良太一郎] and Watanabe Gentarō [渡辺源太郎] Media: Woodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and colour on paper; uchiwa-e (fan print); 222 × 285 mm Genre: Genji-e (源氏絵)

Description: Interior scene divided by sliding screens. At left, Ashikaga Mitsuuji (足利光氏) is shown seated, leaning back with one arm extended to his knee. At right, a female figure—Onna San no Miya (女三宮), the Third Princess—is shown partially concealed behind a screen, one hand gripping the frame as she turns toward Mitsuuji. Both figures wear patterned garments. Decorative elements include a standing lantern painted with carnation motifs and screens ornamented with chrysanthemum sprays. Mitsuuji’s kimono bears white rindō (竜胆, gentian) crests, set among blue and yellow grass motifs and dew-drop patterns. The imagery is based on Chapter 35 of Nise Murasaki inaka Genji (偐紫田舎源氏), a late-Edo gōkan (合巻) by Ryūtei Tanehiko (1783–1842).

Inscriptions:

Series title: Yasa sugata yukari no ... [屋さ姿ゆかり野] – Graceful figures from ... Print title: Wakana [若菜] – Spring Shoots.

[With the help of Horst Greabner]

Note: Another print from the same series, titled Yūgao (夕顔, The Twilight Beauty), depicts Mitsuuji together with Tasogare (黄昏, “Twilight”) in an abandoned Buddhist temple (A. Marks, 2012). Botanically, yūgao refers to Lagenaria siceraria (calabash), although in visual and literary tradition the episode is often associated instead with morning glory (asagao, 朝顔).

Reference: Marks, Andreas. Genji's World in Japanese Woodblock Prints. — Leiden, Hotei Publishing, 2012; pp. 218-9 – mentions two more prints from this series: Yūgao (The Twilight Beauty), already mentioned, and Hanachirusato (花散里, Falling Flowers – Chapter 11).