Untitled

Suzuki Harunobu

ca. 1765–66 · Woodblock print; ink and color on paper · Asian Art

This image is a parody of the iconic episode of The Tales of Ise in which the young hero of the amorous saga abducts another young girl. He takes her to Musashi Province, far east of the capital, and, pursued by the local authorities, he hides the girl in a field of tall flowering grass and escapes. In order to force him out of hiding, his pursuers begin to set fire to the field; then they hear the voice of the girl: Field of Musashi— Do not burn it down today! Like the young grasses here my lover crouching hides and I too lie in hiding. (trans. H. Jay Harris) Here the artist, whom we presume is Suzuki Harunobu because of the distinctive figural style, has represented the characters from the tenth-century classic in the garb of contemporary Edo. The kneeling figure, though represented with effeminate facial features, has the distinctive hair style of a wakashu (male youth) of the day, as often depicted by the artist. There is another iimpression of this print in the collection Rijksmuseum voor Volkenkunde, Leiden, that has the signature of the haikai poet and amateru artist Suikōdō Sakei, but we can assume that he is adding his name to the print as the patron who commissioned a calendar print as he did on other works.

Artist

Suzuki Harunobu

Date

ca. 1765–66

Medium

Woodblock print; ink and color on paper

Culture

Japan

Department

Asian Art

Credit line

Rogers Fund, 1922