- Museum number
- OA+,0.133.6
- Title
- Series: Utamakura 歌まくら (Poem of the Pillow)
- Description
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Shunga, colour woodblock print. No. 10 out of 12 illustrations from a printed folding album (sheets mounted separately). Lovers in private second floor room of tea-house. Inscribed and signed.
- Production date
- 1788 (New Year, preface)
- Dimensions
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Height: 40.60 centimetres (mount)
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Height: 25.40 centimetres
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Width: 55.90 centimetres (mount)
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Width: 36.90 centimetres
- $Inscriptions
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- Curator's comments
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After the violence of rape (picture nine), calm is restored in this memorable image of lovers reclining in the upstairs room of a teahouse, open to the autumn evening breeze. Their entwined legs seen through his diaphanous silk jacket suggest the delicate intimacy that will soon follow. The lovers gently touch each other’s face and neck and the man’s eye can just be seen gazing at her as they kiss. Sophisticated modulation of the patterns on her robe give the sense of her beautifully curving body beneath.
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This is the first major erotic work by Utamaro, a folding album with a preface followed by twelve colour-printed illustrations and two erotic stories. A wide variety of scenarios and protagonists are presented: young lovers, married couples, townspeople and samurai, sex workers and ordinary types, a middle-aged woman seducing a youth, a widow, a secret lover, a rape. The album begins with mythological river creatures called kappa seizing a female diver and ends with exotic Europeans. There is a clear ambition to show as many different kinds of coupling as possible, which has the effect of emphasizing the universality of sex. Two erotic stories at the end of the album extend the range even further, with scenarios difficult to portray in pictures presented in texts and vocal exclamations. The first describes the fantasies of a young man who dreams of a tryst with the girl next door. In the second, women isolated on the fabled ‘Isle of Women’ (Nyogo-ga-shima), thought to be located in the ocean to the south, get satisfaction by exposing themselves to the southern breezes. On the fan in picture ten is inscribed a verse by the comic kyo-ka poet Yadoya no Meshimori (1753–1830): ‘Its beak caught firmly / in the clam shell / the snipe cannot fly away / on an autumn evening’ (‘Hamaguri ni / hashi o shikka to / hasamarete / shigi tachikanuru / aki no yu-gure’). The same verse also appears in volume five of the anthology Kyo-ka saizoshu-, published by Tsutaya in 1787. It gives a new spin to one of three famous classical poems on autumn themes in the imperial anthology Shin kokin waka shu- (1205), by the monk Saigyo- (1118–90), which ends with the lines ‘… snipe fly from the marsh / on an autumn evening’ (‘… shigi tatsu sawa no / aki no yu-gure’). Taking the fable of the battle between the clam and the snipe from the Chinese Han-period chronicle Zhanguoce, Yance (J. Sengokusaku, Ensaku), it comically depicts the travails of the snipe with its beak caught in the clam shell that it was trying to eat, likening this to the lovers soon to be locked in sexual coupling. The composition is memorable for the softness of the woman’s ear and the line of her nape, the delicate hand gestures and dynamic, flowing lines of the drapery. And thanks to the verse we get the additional dimension of actions unfolding in time. The sense of seduction expressed through the woman’s fingers and her entwining leg is countered by the cool gaze of the man’s one visible eye, as he looks back at her. He may be the snipe, but also perhaps the fisherman of the story who is able to capture both the battling snipe and clam. So intricately are poem and picture intertwined that maybe Utamaro even got the idea for the picture in the first place from reading the verse. The name of the publisher does not appear in the album; however, as previous scholars have suggested, there is strong evidence to suggest Tsutaya Ju-zaburo-; he was the first to discover Utamaro’s talent and was beginning to publish similar luxurious colour-printed books and albums around this time. The preface is signed by one Honjo no Shitsubuka (‘Profligate of Soggy Honjo’) who, in the past, has been identified by the scholar Shibui Kiyoshi and others as the author of popular literature To-rai Sanna (1744–1810).1 However, this relied on the assumption, now discredited, that Sanna and Shimizu Enju- (?1726–86) were one and the same person. Also, the style of the calligraphy is different from the preface written by Sanna for Tokoyogusa of 1784 by Kitao Masanobu (1761–1816).2 The calligraphy of the preface to Utamakura is in the same style as the preface for Utamaro’s kyo-ka illustrated book Shiohi no tsuto of 1789. The distinctive manner of writing the ‘no’ character with such a round shape is unique to the writer Akera Kanko- (1738–98) and his followers. It may not be possible yet to conclude that the preface was written by the same ‘Chieda’ who did the calligraphy for Shiohi no tsuto. However, it can be proposed that the preface for Utamakura was probably done by a member of the Tamagoto group of kyo-ka poets whowere pupils of Akera Kanko- and active in and around the Honjo district at this time. [KF]
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Asano and Clark 1995
The title "Utamakura" (Poem of the Pillow), as well as being suggestive of intimacies of the bedroom, is also a term used to describe certain place-names used in classical literature which are full of poetic associations. Used in this sense, ‘utamakura’ is a term closely linked to ‘makura-kotoba’, stock poetic epithets that precede these place-names. Both ‘utamakura’ and ‘makura-kotoba’ are in fact amply used in the preface by Honjo no Shitsubuka (Profligate of Soggy Honjo), thought to be a name used by the ‘kibyoshi’ author and ‘kyoka’ poet Torai Sanna (1744-1810). Neither the name of the artist or the publisher appear in the album, but stylistically there is no doubt it is by Utamaro. In addition, the reference in the preface to the name of the album "coming close to the name of the artist" (gako no na ni yosete) confirms this. Many of the robes in the illustrations have a crest similar to the ivy-leaf trademark of Tsutaya Juzaburo, and the folding album format with dark blue covers is identical to that used for many of the ‘kyoka’ anthologies published by Tsutaya around this time.
The style and content of ‘Utamakura’, published the same year as ‘Ehon mushi erabi’ (cat. no. 263), are unprecedented within the genre of ‘shunga’ (erotic pictures), as was appreciated early on by Edmond de Goncourt (1891, repr. 1904, p. 138). A world of fantasy is immediately established by the almost primordial scene in the opening illustration in which an abalone-diver is raped by scaly river-monsters (kappa), as her companion looks on in horror and fascination. Scenes of conjugal bliss and other suave scenarios more common to the genre are punctuated by certain extraordinary or exotic studies: the violence and pain of rape by a hairy assailant; an elderly, somewhat repulsively depicted Dutch couple in their foreign clothes. A degree of indiscipline, even wildness, in the arrangement of bodies is kept in check by the complex hierarchy of outlines, from the thichest calligraphic line used to suggest a bed-quilt, down to infinitesimally fine pubic hairs. Textile patterns are equally complex and skilfully cut.
Two plates contain texts: no. 9, the rape scene, includes the exchange. "Let go of me Rihei, you old fool!" (Kono Rihei jijii-me yoshaagare), and "Save your words and just keep still" (Nan to iwarete mo ichiban shisai sureba yoi no ja); and the following, no. 10, the entwined lovers in the second-floor rooms of a tea-house, has a ‘kyoka’ poem by Yadoya no Meshimori inscribed on the man's fan: "Its beak caught firmly/In the clamshell/The snipe cannot fly away/Of an autumn evening (Hamaguri ni/hashi o shikka to/hasamarete/shigi tachi-kanuru/aki no yugure). Meshimori." The preface may be translated as follows:
Loosening the sash of Yoshino River, forging a bond 'twixt Imo and Se mountains, spreading the skirts of Mount Tsukuba — thus do lovers plight their troth. Enveloping themselves in a screen of mist, spreading a quilt of flowers, reaching for a pillow... We hereby print pillow pictures in brocades of the East as a plaything of spring at court. With one glance the eye is startled, the heart throbs, the spirit leaps [Ide], pausing below the sash, pressing, pressing, entwining the legs like the reeds of Naniwa, from the jewel-comb box of Hakone onwards, it is akin to using the hips. Ah! Rather than some amateur at drawing, the brush of one who is skilled in the art of love, without pressing too hard, this is the way to move the hearts of men. And so, what name shall I give this volume? Why yes, likening it to a poem by Bishop Henjo, borrowing the title of a letter by Lady Sei, and even coming close to the name of the artist, I call it ‘Ehon utamakura’, Poem of the Pillow — a companion to awakening in spring perhaps. [Honjo no Shitsubuka (profligate of Soggy Honjo) First spring, 1788]
Literature:
‘Kokusho somokuroku’「 国書総目録」, vol. 1, Iwanami Shoten, Tokyo, 1963-72, 380.
Hillier, Jack, ‘The Art of the Japanese Book’, Sotheby’s Publication, London, 1987, 414-6.
Hayashi, Yoshikazu 林美一, ‘Edo makura-eshi shusei: Utamaro sei’「 江戸枕絵師集成 喜多川歌麿 正」,Tokyo, Kawade Shobo Shinsha, 1990, 84-86, 235-249.
Clark, Timothy. "Utamakura — Utamaro no higa-cho"『歌まくら—歌麿の秘画帖』, in ‘Ukiyo-e hizo meihin shu’「浮世絵秘蔵名品集」, vol. 1, 14-23, ii-vi. Tokyo, Gakushu Kenkyusha, 1991.
Hayashi, Yoshikazu 林美一, ‘Utamaro: Le Chant de la Volupte’, Translated by Jacques Levy. Aries, Editions Philippe Picquier, 1992, 49-64.
Other copies:
Victoria and Albert Museum, London.
[Main text translated in Japanese below / 以下上記本文日本語訳]
浅野／クラーク 1995
「歌まくら」という題は、寝室での情交を思わせる語であり、また古典文学で特定の地名を表す、詩的な連想を呼び起こす語でもある。詩的な語としての歌枕は枕詞と密接に関連している。枕詞は詩的な意味合いを含み、地名の前に置かれた。実際、歌枕も枕詞も本所のしつ深の序にふんだんに使われている。本所のしつ深は黄表紙作者兼狂歌師であった唐来参和（1744~1810）の別名であろう。絵師と版元の名は作品中には記されないが、様式からみて歌麿の作品であることは疑いない。加えて、序文中で作品の題について「画工の名に寄て」といっているのが確信を深める。画中の多くの着物には蔦屋重三郎の版元印によく似た蔦の紋が付いている。折帖の濃紺の表紙は当時蔦屋重三郎が出版した狂歌集の多くに見られるのと同じである。
『歌まくら』は「画中虫撰」（第463図）と同年に出版された。様式と内容の点で春画の分野では先例のないものであるが、エドモン・ド・ゴンクールは早くもその真価を認めていた。（著書『歌麿』1904、p138）幻想に満ちた世界が第1図の最初のシーンから速やかに確立されている。第1図は鮑とりの海女が河童に犯されているところで、それをもう1人の海女が恐怖を感じつつも魅せられて見入っている。春画によくある夫婦の歓びや他の温和な筋書きの情景の間に尋常ならざる図や異国的な図が挿入される。尋常ならざる図が毛むくじゃらの加害者によるレイプの暴力と苦痛の図であり、異国的な図が嫌悪を催すように描かれた異国の服装のオランダ人カップルの図である。乱暴ともいえるような無秩序な人体の配置を描線の太さを使い分けることによって抑制する。描線は布団を表わす極太の筆線から極細の陰毛まで複雑な関係を示している。着物の模様も同様に複雑に巧みに描かれている。
文章が含まれているのは9番目と10番目の2図である。9番目のレイプの場面には次のような会話がみられる。
「此利兵衛じじいめ、よしやァがれ」「なんといわれても一ばんしさいすればよいのじゃ」
10番目の茶屋の2階で抱き合う男女の場面では、宿屋飯盛の狂歌が男の扇子に書かれている。
「蛤にはし（嘴）をしっかとはさまれて 鴫立ちかぬる秋の夕ぐれ 飯盛」
序文：
吉野ゝ川の帯を解て妹背の縁をむすひ、筑波の山の裾を顕て男女のかたらひをなす。霞の屏風立籠て、花の蒲団を敷妙の枕絵を、爰に鳥がなく吾妻の錦に摺て、都ぞ春のもて遊びとす。ミるに目もあや、こゝろもときめき、魂は飛で井出の下紐の下に止り、おしてるや難波のあしをからむて、玉くしげ箱根から腰を遣が如し。嗚呼、絵のことの素より、色ごとの粋何其の毫、ちからをも入ずして、かく人の心を動す。此一冊、なづけて何と呼ん。夫よ。かの遍昭が哥の様に此し、清女が文の題を借、且は画工の名に寄て、艶本有当枕となづけ、春の寐覚の伽となすものならし。
天あきらけき 八ツのはつはる
本所のしつ深題
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Smith et al 1990
A couple are lying in close embrace in the upstairs room of a restaurant, their legs entwined beneath the transparent gauze of his jacket, and her bare buttocks a shock of white against the bright scarlet under-kimono. They hold each other with tender gestures, the man gazing intently into his lover's eyes. The fan he holds between them has been turned towards us
to display the suggestive verse by the celebrated comic poet Yadoya no Meshimori:
Hamaguri ni Its beak caught firmly
Hashi o shikka to In the clam shell,
Hasamarete The snipe cannot
Shigi tachikanuru Fly away
Aki no yugure Of an autumn evening
The album 'Poem of the Pillow' is a masterpiece among erotic works by Utamaro and among the entire erotic 'oeuvre' of the Ukiyo-e school. It transcends the existing conventions of a genre which all too easily resorted to stereotypical scenes of lovemaking. The size of the figures is unusually large and they are brought close to the picture plane and viewed from low angles. Stylistically and technically, too, there is much innovation: a fine pale brown outline to the bodies in place of the normal black, and a variety of 'painterly' brush strokes used to depict the drapery. 'Poem of the Pillow' comes at the start of a sequence of 'de-luxe' colour-printed books and albums designed by Utamaro and published by Tsutaya - on the themes of birds, shells, snow, moon and flowers - which widened considerably the range of subject-matter and styles in Ukiyo-e.
FURTHER READING
Higashioji, Taku (ed.), 'Utamaro no Utamakura higa-cho', Tokyo, 1980.
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
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Exhibited:
2007 10 Oct - 2008 10 Jan, London, Barbican Gallery, 'Seduced: Art and Sex'
2010 22 Sep-14 Nov, Birmingham, Ikon Gallery, 'Kitagawa Utamaro'
2011 14 Feb-14 Apr, London, BM Japanese Galleries, 'Japan from prehistory to the present'
2013 3 Oct - 2014 5 Jan, London, BM, Shunga: Sex and pleasure in Japanese art, 1600-1900
- Department
- Asia
- Registration number
- OA+,0.133.6
