child, telling him that he was the son of a great general of Minamoto clan, killed in a war against Taira clan. Thus, she had raised the boy in the mountain to be a hero.
When the child was grown, he took the name of Sakata no Kintoki after the lands with which he had been rewarded by Yorimitsu, who had made him one of his four highest officers. In the mountain of Oyeyama, and in the province of Tampa, there lived a great devil, an outlaw named Shuten-doji, who pillaged the neighbouring provinces, shamelessly carrying off young maidens and, with his band of devils, routing the soldiers of the provincial governors. Complaints arrived at the court and Yorimitsu was appointed to lead an expedition against the brigand. But instead of taking a whole battalion with him, he took just Kintoki and his three high officers, disguised as pilgrims. Having made the brigands drunk on sake and dancing with them, and while Kintoki hand wrestled with Shuten-doji, holding his hands and laughing, Yorimitsu drew his sword like lightening and cut off his head so quickly that, on the other side of the room people were still dancing without suspecting anything. A general melee ensued, but the five heroes, among whom was Kintoki, accomplished feats of prowess and overpowered the devils who were demoralised by the death of their chieftain, burning their hideout and returning the captive women to their homes.
Kintoki is also the hero of another adventure. When Yorimitsu fell ill as a result of a wound inflicted by a monstrous spider, he set out with three of his comrades to slay it.
We must also mention Momotarō. Along with Kintarō, this other legendary boy is honoured by Japanese children who fill their albums with depictions of his feats and adventures. The fable tells the story of an old couple. One day, while the man was cutting wood and the woman was washing laundry in the stream, there rose up from the water a huge red thing which the old woman recognised as an enormous peach: peach momo. She waited for her husband to cut it open. […]. Great was the astonishment of the old couple to find a beautiful boy inside, whom they named Momotarō (peach child). The child soon became a tall charming youth. But in those days, the people who lived on the coast were being eaten by the horrible inhabitants of a neighbouring island. One day the young man, accompanied by his dog, his monkey, and his pheasant, set sail for the island. Once there, he and his companions began to accomplish such marvels that the king of the island agreed to stop the cannibalistic expeditions. Ever since this promise, the inhabitants of Japan have been able to live unmolested.
“Woman Holding up a Piece of Fabric” (Nuno o kazasu onna), c. 1795–1796.
Ōban, nishiki-e, 38 × 25.5 cm.
Musée national des Arts asiatiques – Guimet, Paris.
“Mosquito-Net” (Kaya), 1797.
Ōban, nishiki-e, 37.6 × 24.8 cm.
Musée national des Arts asiatiques – Guimet, Paris.
“Parody of the Procession of a Korean Ambassador” (Mitate Tōjin gyōretsu), c. 1797–1798. Ōban, seven sheets, nishiki-e. The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago.
Let us look at some of these marvellous prints.
Series of the Large Heads:
Among the prints dedicated to women, there is a series of some one hundred prints, the collection of the Large Heads, where the head of a woman is depicted almost life-sized with a part of the upper torso. These prints, in which the head is always depicted with a traditional hieratic quality featuring the fine arched eyebrows and the typical beauty so highly prized in Japan, distinguish themselves through the bit of the dress seen covering the shoulders and bust of these women, or by a fan or a screen which they hold in their fingertips. Their dimensions and print quality are admirable, and the embossing sets off the white of a chrysanthemum, of a cherry blossom petal against a blue or mauve dress, or the white of the pattern in a border, and creates a trompe-l’œil with the relief of its embroidery. These prints of the Large Heads, done for the most part around 1795, are interesting not only for their beauty, but for the information they reveal about the imitations, the plagiarism, and the thefts of the artist’s signature by his colleagues: Utamaro, as a warning to the public against the counterfeits circulating under his name, signed this series “the real Utamaro”.
Nishiki-e* in seven panels
These works made up of seven contiguous sheets are not numerous, but among them should be mentioned:
Parody of the Procession of a Korean Ambassador:
A long line of women on foot and on horseback are bearing one of their own on a litter resembling a shrine: all the women are wearing strange, pointed green hats and harmonious dresses, in which the blue, green, mauve, and yellow recall the decoration on Chinese green family porcelain, hues which so greatly influenced the watercolours of the Japanese masters leading up to Utamaro.
Nishiki-e* in six panels
The Six Tamagawa:
Women walking in the countryside, where a child is wading in a stream near a washerwoman beating her laundry with a stick.
Nishiki-e* in five panels
The series of works composed of five contiguous sheets has many more examples:
The Boys’ Feast Day:
A woman leans over an album, near another woman, a brush in her hand ready to paint: both are being watched by a child in a room where a revolving easel with a little parasol holds a kakemono* representing, in blood red, the terrible Shōki, the exterminator of devils, a kind of patron saint of boys. This exterminator of devils has his own legend. Chung Kwei, the hunter of devils, in one of the favourite myths of the Chinese, was reputed to be a supernatural protector of the emperor Xuanzong (713–762) against the evil spirits who haunted his palace. His story is told as follows in the E honko jidan: the emperor Genso came down with a fever. In his delirium, he saw a little demon who was stealing the flute of his mistress Yokiki (Yang Guifei) at the same moment a hardy spirit appeared, seized the demon and ate it. When the emperor asked him his name, he answered: “I am Shinshi Shōki, of the mountain of Shunan. During the reign of emperor Koso (Kao tsu) of the Butoku period (618–627), I was unable to reach the rank to which I aspired in the high office of the State. Out of shame I killed myself. But at my funeral, I was posthumously promoted, by imperial order, to a high honour and now I am trying to do justice to the favour which was bestowed upon me. This is why I want to exterminate all the demons in the land.” Genso woke up; his illness had disappeared. He then ordered Godoshi to paint a picture of the exterminator of devils and to distribute copies of it throughout the empire.
Year-end Fair at Asakusa:
The market which is held during the last ten days of the year takes place before the great gate of the temple of Asakusa. A crowd is walking through mountains of tubs, sifters, and household utensils, over the top of which here and there are visible, carried on heads, New Year’s day presents typical of Japan: a lobster on a bed of ferns, an object made of twisted straw to keep devils out of the houses, etc. In the midst of the crowd, two little girls avoid being separated and lost by each holding one end of a length of cloth tightly in her hands, and a small boy lifts a little pagoda over his head, a toy pagoda for sale.
“Year-End Fair at Asakusa” (Asakusa toshi no ichi), c. 1800–1801.
Ōban, five sheets, nishiki-e, 38.7 × 25.2 (left), 38.5 × 24.8 cm (2), 38.5 × 75.1 cm (3–5). The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago.
