Japanese Ukiyo-e Appreciation Series II: Kaidan Pictures

Author: Wu Guiyu
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2002-10-01
Features: "Kanjo" – a humorous form of "Waka" poetry that became popular in Japan during the middle period of the Edo era. A representative work from the later years of Utagawa Hiroshige's "Kanjo" album, it depicts various contemporary figures with light and serene brushwork, totaling over fifty illustrations. This volume selects twenty-four of them. Each illustration is accompanied by a "Kanjo" poem, and together with the poems, each artwork serves as a valuable resource for understanding the customs and social life of the time. Ukiyo-e refers to the genre of genre paintings from the Edo period in Japan. The term "ukiyo" originates from Buddhist language, meaning the myriad phenomena of the world, or the visible and audible social realities. In the late 17th century, it was adopted by Japanese scholars for artistic purposes, giving rise to ukiyo-e. The production method of ukiyo-e involved first creating more expensive ink paintings, followed by the emergence of the widely known woodblock prints. Ukiyo-e includes genre paintings centered on beautiful women, actor prints depicting Kabuki performers, as well as landscapes, flowers, birds, insects, plants, and animals. Among these, the beautiful women and actor prints, which are collectively known as the two major themes of ukiyo-e, are celebrated for their unique charm, attracting worldwide attention and being widely preserved in major museums around the world.