Kikukawa Eizan (菊川 英山, 1787 – July 17, 1867) Signed: Eizan hitsu (英山筆)

Jacob Pins #972/p.341. Leiden, Rijksmuseum voor Volkenkunde.

"The Lovers Miura-ya Komurasaki and Shirai Gonpachi: Tragic love stories taken from real life and dramatized were a staple of stage and print; the darkly romantic combination of desire and death was hugely popular in the eighteenth century. Hirai Gompachi was a warrior of the Tottori fief in western Japan who fled to Edo after committing a murder. He was apprehended and sentenced to death in 1679. His distraught lover, the courtesan Komurasaki, committed suicide at his grave." [MET]

 

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Kitagawa Utamaro. According to Chris Uhlenberg this is an illustration from the book Ehon koi no Onamaki, 3 vols, published in Kansei 11 (1799). Illustrated in b/w in: Hayashi Yoshikazu: Kitagawa Utamaro, in the series: Edo makura-e shi shusei, published in 1990, reissued 1994. Size: Chuban (25.5 x 18.5 cm), two book pages glued together.  

Artist: Kitagawa Utamaro [喜多川 歌麿] (Japanese, c. 1753 – 1806) "This uncommon half-size horizontal ōban ... is most likely one design from a set of twelve prints issued late in Utamaro's life" [Japanese Erotic Fantasies, Hotei Publishing, 2005, p. 143, pl. 47].  Half-size horizontal ōban must be 12.7 x 38 cm. Richard Waldman and Chris Uhlenbeck say it's tanzaku size (13 x 43 cm). In reality, the prints of this series measure 17 x 38 cm, which corresponds exactly to horizontal o-hosoban paper size. I managed to assemble 11 of allegedly 12 designs. 7 of them have genitals colored by hand. It's hard to tell whether it was done by the publisher on demand of a peculiar buyer, or by the owner of the prints who considered the black and white privy parts unnatural. My sequencing of the prints is arbitrary. Transcription of the text may help find the correct order. As Japanese Erotic Fantasies put it: "a couple engaged in love-making, their stare fixed outside the picture plane". This is the only image of series that has a reference in available western literature, and the only one found in museum collections: Rijksmuseum Amsterdam (RP-P-1999-2001-16); reference: Fukuda (ed.) (1990), pls. 11-2. The scene of this print looks quite similar to that of the Kiyonaga's Sode no maki:  The woman is "a young lady-in-waiting of Shogun's Court or Daimyō's Mansion, enjoying a rare outing from her tedious chores" [Richard Lane]. She is fully dressed in her outer cloak (shikake), white paper hat (agebōshi or tsunokakushi), and toed socks (tabi).  A book or maybe, onkotogami (roll of tissues known as 'paper for honourable act' ) is still in the folds of her kimono. She is holding an open fan, either to cover her and her lover's faces from an unsolicited witness or to bring some fresh air to their joined lips. The pair just started their sexual intercourse. A scene from medieval times. A courtier in eboshi cap having sex with an aristocratic young woman with a long straight hairstyle (suihatsu). Completely naked couple in the moment of ejaculation. Lavish garments with paulownia leaves on a yellow background counterbalance the white bodies on red bedding. The form of a woman's cheeks is telling, but I don't know about what. Maybe her advanced age? The pose of the couple and the overall composition are similar to that of the previous sheet. Though the lovers are dressed, and the woman's hairdo is well kept. The male looks older and the woman - younger.   A man takes a young maid from behind. She clenches the sleeve of her kimono in her teeth; it's either the moment of penetration (beginning of intercourse) or of her orgasm (the end of it).   This seems to be a forced intercourse between a lackey with extensive bodily hair and a young maid from the same household. This design is very much like the other one presented below, which is described at Japanese Erotic Fantasies on page 136 (pl. 43b) as follows: "The viewer peers through a mosquito net to see a child fast asleep, while his mother or wet-nurse moves towards her partner. On our print there is no child; instead of a sleeping baby, there is a roll of onkotogami. Fewer objects make the overall image concise, almost laconic in comparison with the Ehon hana fubuki (1802) design: A young couple in a moment of true love. He is listening to the beating of her heart. This is a moment of true love between an old monk and a young samurai. The latter even did not take of his socks (tabi). From Japanese Erotic Fantasies: "Boats played a crucial role in the workings of Yoshiwara, as they were the primary means of transport to the district. During the hot summer months, trips on pleasure boats were also a favourite pastime. Sex aboard a boat is a recurrent theme in shunga". The last print that I am currently lacking and hunting for: I know where it is, but I cannot reach it... yet.