55 - Eizan: Hanaôgi of the Ôgiya

Eizan: Hanaôgi of the Ôgiya, 1806-1808

The widely underrated Kikugawa Eizan (1787-1867), completed and ended the development of classical bijinga, which leads in a straight line from Haronubu, via Koryusai, Kiyonaga and Utamaro, finally to peak with Eizan. Both Koryusai and Eizan are often overlooked, but they certainly deserve attention as the masters they were.

This is Hanaôgi of the Ôgiya, from the series Women of Seven Houses (Shichikenjin), a pun on Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove. Eizan created this print sometime between 1806 and 1808.

54 - Shinsai: Carp among pond plants

Shinsai: Carp among pond plants

This surimono shows a carp and water-weeds. Carps occur frequently in Japanese art, where they symbolise "achievement against adversity".

The artist is Ryūryūkyo Shinsai (1764?-1823, active 1799-1823), who was one of Hokusai's students.

53 - Hokusai: The Strong Oi Pouring Sake

Hokusai: The Strong Oi Pouring Sake

The Strong Oi Pouring Sake is a portrait Hokusai made of his daughter, Oi. She was also an artist and her art name was Sakae; the title of the portrait is likely to be a pun based on that.

Sake is a Japanese alcoholic beverage, sometimes called rice wine. While it is made of rice, it is not correct to call it wine. It is not, as wine, made by fermentation of sugar naturally present in grapes (or other fruit), but by a brewing-like process, where starch is first converted to sugar, which is then fermented to produce the alcohol. Thus, technically, sake is not wine.

 

52 - Kunisada: Yakusha-e from the Kawarazaki Theatre 1852

Kunisada: Yakusha-e from 1852

This is a yakusha-e by Utagawa Kunisada (1786-1865), Actors Ichikawa Danjûrô VIII as Nuregami Chôgorô (right), Ichikawa Saruzô I as Yamasaki Yogorô, Iwai Kumesaburô III as Azuma of the Fujiya (center), and Arashi Rikan III as Hanaregoma Chôkichi (left). It shows scenes from the plays Imoseyama Onna Teikin and Futatsu Chôchô Kuruwa Nikki, at Kawarazaki Theatre in 1852.

Kunisada, sometimes called Toyokuni III, was the superstar of his time, the ukiyo-e artist who had the greatest commercial success during his own lifetime. He was more famous in Japan of his time than Hokusai or Hiroshige.

51 - Hiroshige II: Kinryuzan Temple in Asakusa

Hiroshige II: Kinryuzan Temple in Asakusa

Utagawa Hiroshige II (1826-1868), originally Shinpei Suzuki, was a student of Hiroshige I, the "great" Hiroshige. He married the latter's daughter and when Hiroshige I died, Shinpei Suzuki took his teacher's name. He continued to work in the classical Hiroshige style, and his works are confusingly similar to those of Hiroshige I.

The print above is from the middle of the 19th century: Kinryuzan Temple in Asakusa, from the series Famous Places in the Eastern Capital.

This is an aizuri-e, a print primarily in blue.

50 - Harunobu: Bijinga

Harunobu: Bijinga

Undoubtedly, Harunobu was one of the earliest, greatest, and most innovative of the ukiyo-e masters. In his best works, primarily bijinga, the female figures possess an elegance few other artists have been able to achieve.

Here he displays a bijin sitting on the back of an ox. A peculiar and precarious position, yet the figure has not lost anything of its gracefulness.

49 - Hokkei: Urashima Tarō Going Home on the Back of a Tai Fish

Hokkei: Urashima Tarō Going Home on the Back of a Tai Fish

This is a surimono by Totoya Hokkei, showing Urashima Tarō Going Home on the Back of a Tai Fish - the Emperor of the Sea Seeing Him Off.

Urashima Tarō is a figure in a Japanese legend. He saves a turtle, which shows to be the daughter of the Emperor of the Sea, Ryūjin. The Emperor wants to thank him, so he is taken to the Palace of the Dragon God at the bottom of the sea, where he meets the Emperor and his daughter, now the princess Otohime. When he is permitted to return home to see his aged mother, 300 years have passed - and when he opens a box Otohime gave him but forbade him to open, he suddenly ages. The box contained "his old age".

There are several different versions of the tale.