Weatherspoon Art Museum - UNC Greensboro

Ishikawa Toyonobu (1711-1785)
Woman Leaping from the Deck Of Kiyomisudera Temple
c. 1760

By the early 1700s, Edo (modern day Tokyo) had grown into a bustling metropolis of more than a million inhabitants and its vibrant urban culture became the inspiration for a new form of artistic expression known as ukiyo-e—floating world pictures. The floating world referred to the escapist and ephemeral pleasures offered in Edo’s kabuki theaters and the Yoshiwara, a licensed brothel district on the northern outskirts of the city. Star actors and glamorous courtesans are the subjects of most floating world images, but as ukiyo-e artists were especially attuned to popular pastimes and pursuits, they also exploited the public’s love of travel and its fascination with samurai history. By the early nineteenth century, landscapes and warriors had been added to the repertoire of floating world images.

Ukiyo-e artists preferred the woodblock print medium because it was flexible enough to accommodate a wide range of artistic expression. The medium also facilitated mass production, from cheaply produced black and white images to luxurious full-color designs using exotic pigments and precious minerals. Successful designs were issued in several editions to meet popular demand. These prints carried Edo’s urban culture and floating world sensibilities far beyond their origins in the entertainment districts.

The Lenoir C. Wright Collection of Japanese woodblock prints at the Weatherspoon Art Museum is the only collection of its kind and depth in the State and numbers in excess of seven hundred works of art. The collection has recently been the focus of a major traveling exhibition accompanied by a catalogue by Dr. Allen Hockley of Dartmouth College.

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Collection Highlights

Hosoda Eishi
(1756-1829)
Ono no Komachi
c. 1790

This print depicts the famous poet Ono no Komachi (c. 833-857) whose name is associated with both rare beauty and great destitution. Heralded as one of the most lovely, refined and talented women of her day, she tragically lived out her later years alone and poverty stricken. She became the central figure in three popular theatrical dramas, and her poetry is noted for its passionate directness:

The colors of blossoms fade
in the long rains
and so my youth passed in vain
through long years alone.

Utagawa Hiroshige
(1797-1858)
Thirty-six Views of Mt. Fuji: Ryogoku in the Eastern Capital (Edo)
1858-59

Despite the enormous success of his various Tokaido road series, towards the end of his life Hiroshige designed two series called the "Thirty-six Views of Mt. Fuji," borrowing from Hokusai, who had died several years earlier in 1749. The first set was published in 1852 and the second set, which included this image, was published in 1858, the year of Hiroshige’s death. Ryogoku Bridge spanned the Sumida River in Edo and was a popular site for viewing firework displays. Here, the daily activity along the river is apparent as men pole their boats along the water, travelers cross the bridge and a woman prepares to step down into a ferryboat. Mt. Fuji again looms in the background and a willow branch gently frames the composition from above.

Katsushika Hokusai
(1760-1849)
Comparison of Genroku Poem Shells: Abalone
1821

According to the Japanese zodiac, 1821—when this print was made—was the year of the snake that in Japanese tradition was associated with the goddess Benten. Since shrines to Benten are typically located near water, people on pilgrimage to these shrines often took advantage of the locations to collect seashells. Thus, the Japanese have over time made the association between seashells and snakes. As a result, Hokusai took the opportunity in 1821 to create a series of 36 designs titled "Shells for Genroku Poems." Here, three people are hanging strips of abalone on a bamboo pole, off of which two flat fish dry. To the right, partly obscured by a large rock, is the thatched roof of a small hut and some fishing nets hung out to dry. Actual silver is used to add a sense of luxury to the surface of the print and to enhance the depiction of frothy crashing waves.

Isoda Koryûsai
(1735-1790)
The Heron Maiden
1779

Bijinga artists sometimes incorporated references to classical literature and poetry in their designs. Such prints were known as mitate-e—parody pictures—and were intended to add a humorous or intellectual component to what otherwise would have been simply pictures of beautiful women. The Heron Maiden (Sagi musume) was a narrative dance performed originally in the classical Noh theater. It was adapted for kabuki in 1760 and quickly appropriated by print artists as a subject for mitate-e. In this design a handsome youth bows down to clean the snow from the maiden’s geta.

Tsukioka Yoshitoshi
(1839-1892)
Fujiwara no Yasumasa Plays the Flute by Moonlight
1882

The ability of print artists to tap popular sentiment extended to subjects beyond the public’s insatiable fascination with kabuki and the Yoshiwara. The literature of the classical past came to life in prints, as did the poets and authors who produced it. With vivid depictions of famous warriors and tragic heroes, especially those by Kuniyoshi and his pupil Yoshitoshi, print artists became historians and storytellers and, in the process, pushed the print tradition in to territory far removed from the floating world. The renowned poet Fijuwara no Yasumasa was once stalked by a murderous bandit as he wandered through the Ichihara moor. In what is regarded as one of the great masterpieces of the print tradition, the artist Yoshitoshi vividly evokes the moment when Yasumasa charms his assailant with melody played on his flute.

Ishikawa Toyonobu
(1711-1785)
Woman Leaping from the Deck Of Kiyomisudera Temple
c. 1760

A young woman is shown leaping from the veranda of Kiyomizu temple and using her umbrella as a parachute. The hall of this temple was located on the side of a hill, some thirty feet or more above the ground. It became the custom for young women to test the fate that marriage had in store for them by jumping from this height, believing that if they landed without mishap their happiness was assured. The ode reads: "A jump from the platform, the cherry blossom in darkness."