23 - Kuniyoshi: Doll Parodies

Kuniyoshi: Doll Parodies (Ningyô mitate), 1856

This is a mitate-e from 1856 by Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1797-1861). It is named Doll Parodies (Ningyô mitate), and depicts Shintoism, Confucianism and Buddhism (Shinjubutsu).

We see Hinzuru and Uzume dancing in the foreground, while Confucius and Mencius (sitting) play Go behind them.

Uzume (left) is a Shinto goddess of joy and happiness, Hinzuru (right) is a Buddhist saint. Confucius is the founder of Confucianism, and Mencius is the most famous Confucian philosopher after Confucius himself.

The print depicts “dolls” in the Kannon Temple in Asakusa, yet these were not dolls in a conventional sense. They were life-size statues, clothed and realistic.

1855-1856, Kuniyoshi made a whole series of prints of the dolls displayed in the Kannon Temple, Tôsei mitate ningyô no uchi (當盛見立人形之内), of which “Doll Parodies” is one.

21 - Kuniyasu: Parody of Shi Jin, the Nine Dragoned: Akomi of the Ôgiya

Kuniyasu: Parody of Shi Jin, the Nine Dragoned: Akomi of the Ôgiya

Here we have one of those hard-to-interpret mitate-e, with many layers of meaning in contrast with each other. At first sight this is nothing more than a bijinga. Indeed, it is a specified woman, Akomi of the Ôgiya. The print is made by Utagawa Kuniyasu (1794-1832), and it is called Parody of Shi Jin, the Nine Dragoned (Kyûmonryû Shishin no mitate): Akomi of the Ôgiya; from the series One Hundred and Eight Heroes of the Popular Shuihuzhuan (Tsûzoku Suikoden gôketsu hyakuhachinin no hitori)."

The Ôgiya was a great brothel in Yoshiwara, Edo's pleasure district. Many ukiyo-e artists created bijinga with portraits of courtesans from this "House". As so many aspects of life in old Japan, a brothel, or a "House", was organised according to a strict hierarchy. The reigning courtesan of the Ôgiya had the hereditary name Hana-o gi.

But who is Shi Jin, the nine-dragoned, with whom Kuniyasu contrasts the courtesan?

He is a character in a Chinese literary classic, Shuǐhǔ Zhuàn (Water Margin). The story is too long to be told here, but Shi Jin had nine dragon tattoos on his body. Compare that to the pattern of the courtesan's kimono.

It is customary to translate "mitate" to "parody", but it can be misleading. I have explained that in a previous article.

07 - Hokusai: Daruma and a Courtesan

Hokusai: Daruma and a Courtesan

Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849) is one of the internationally most famous masters of ukiyo-e. Although he is best known for his woodblock prints, the picture I chose for this week is a painting. It is a mitate-e hanging scroll, depicting Daruma and a courtesan. Hokusai painted it in the beginning of the 1800s.

Mitate is usually translated as "parody" and a mitate-e is then a "parody picture". This translation is quite confusing, since mitate-e contains many forms of pictures. What they all have in common is, that they play with double meanings, symbols, analogies, and associations, often related to literature, legends, or history. One form of mitate-e contrasts impossible combinations or opposites. An historical person or environment and a contemporary one, a peasant and a nobleman, high and low, good and bad.

It is very difficult to understand mitate-e without profound knowledge of Chinese and Japanese classics, symbols, and history. It is even more difficult than that. It is hard to understand that a picture is a mitate-e. All those layers of hidden meanings might easily pass unnoticed.

In this painting Hokusai contrasts Daruma, the founder of Zen Buddhism, with a courtesan. The spiritual and the worldly. To me, this is an illustration of complementary opposites.