The Life and Afterlives of Hanabusa Itchō, Artist-Rebel of Edo japanese visual culture

Volume 10

Managing Editor John T. Carpenter The Life and Afterlives of Hanabusa Itchō, Artist-Rebel of Edo

by Miriam Wattles

Leiden – Boston 2013 Published by Brill has made all reasonable efforts to trace all right BRILL holders to any copyrighted material used in this work. In Plantijnstraat 2 cases where these efforts have not been successful the 2321 JC Leiden publisher welcomes communications from copyright The Netherlands holders, so that the appropriate acknowledgements can be brill.com/jvc made in future editions, and to settle other permission matters. Design Studio Berry Slok, Amsterdam (cover) Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal Production use is granted by Koninklijke Brill NV provided that the High Trade BV, Zwolle, The Netherlands appropriate fees are paid directly to The Copyright Printed in Hungary Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910, Danvers, MA 01923, USA. ISBN 978-90-04-20285-6 Fees are subject to change.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Subvention for the publication of this volume was generously Detailed Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication supplied by a UCSB Academic Senate Faculty Research data are available on the internet at Grant, and the AAS First Book Subvention Program. http://catalog.loc.gov Cover image: Copyright 2013 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, Hanabusa Itchō. Karajishi (Chinese Lion), detail of fig. 36b. The Netherlands. Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Global Oriental, Hotei Publishing, IDC Publishers and Martinus Nijhoff Publishers.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher. Dedicated to the spirit of a friendship, Jeb and Dave

Contents

Preface ix

introduction 1 Peak Generational Moments 2 Legend and Biography 4 School and Genre 4 Itchō as Haiga Artist 5 Itchō, “Founder of Giga” 6 Itchō and Ukiyo-e 7

PART ONE: A LIFE

1 MULTIPLE NAMES FOR MANY PERSONAS 13 Mapping Itchō’s Personas in Time and Place 14 Becoming a Kanō Painter: Yasuo/Shūrinsai 20 Playful Paintings, Playfully Painted 27 In the Floating World: Waō 30 In the World of Haikai Poetry: Gyōun 34 Autonomous: Fuji Nobuka and Taga Chōko 37 The Elegant and Vulgar at Play in an Album 40 Fuji Nobuka’s Accidental Meetings 50

2 iSLAND ITCHŌ 55 Island Patrons 57 Poetic Communications from Exile 66 Island Paintings 68 Coda: The Sociability of a Summer Kimono 88

3 HANABUSA ITCHŌ: HEAD OF THE STUDIO 93 The Kyōhō Era 98 The Sage at the Northern Window 98 Three Monumental Works 103 What Four Accomplishments? 118 The Visual Antics of Itchō 126 Best-Loved Motifs 129 Familiar Themes in the Hanabusa-School Repertoire 138 Painterly Poetics 139 Itchō’s Inscription into Art History 141 The Itchō Legacy 148

vii PART two: AFTERLIVES

4 tANGLED IN SCANDAL: MANUSCRIPT CULTURE 155 Print versus Manuscript Culture 155 The Vagaries of the Case 156 A Record of Rumor: Sands of Edo 157 An Embellished Drama: Ryūkei’s Tale 157 Made Transgressive: Edo Hearsay in Recent Times 159

5 POETICALLY EVOKED: SONGS, POEMS, AND PICTURES IN PRINT 171 Itchō the Songwriter: Unattributed and Fleetingly Lauded 171 Paintings in Print: Publishing in the Name of the Master 173

6 oBJECTIVITY AND ATMOSPHERE: BIOGRAPHIES TO JOURNALS 187 Kyōden’s Embedded Account 187 The Broader Context: Biographies, 1790s–1850s 194 Itchō’s Gradual Marginalization 199

7 GOSSIP AFLOAT: THE PROMISCUITY OF THE ASAZUMA BOAT 205 Meanings Accrued 211 A Question of Attribution 214 Kyōden’s Facts 216 Kyōden’s Playfulness 220 On the Kabuki Stage and in Ukiyo-e 225

epilogue 235

Endnotes 238 Bibliography 252 Illustration Credits 269 List of Characters ??? Index ???

viii 204 7 Gossip Afloat: The Promiscuity of the Asazuma Boat

owhere is the scandal of Itchō’s with reasonable certainty about its original concep- life more concentrated than in connection tion and the unintended meanings that it later ac- Nwith his painting Asazuma Boat, the motif crued. Only one pre-exile painting of the motif by that depicts a boat prostitute of the port of Asazu- Itchō is known to exist, the one found in the album ma on Lake Biwa (opposite). Subversive meanings, Fūzokuga ekan. It is highly unlikely that Itchō in- most likely unintended, took on a life of their own tended this rendering to be a political satire of the as this motif spread in seemingly every possible shogun’s concubine Oden no kata, as Baba Bunkō way—through stories and factual accounts, ukiyo-e claimed. The song “Asazuma-bune,” which Itchō in- and craftwork, Kabuki and popular books. This im- scribed on the painting and which was published age was not by any means the only work that people while he was in exile, all but precludes this as the immediately associated with Itchō. Ironically, he true reason for his banishment. The song is a ro- was given credit for originating what was, in fact, a mantic ditty about the hardships of a prostitute’s life centuries-old formula, the one-stroke (ippitsu) that, by extension, concerns the ephemerality of the Daruma.1 Similarly, he was given credit for invent- floating world. Nothing in it points to Oden no kata, ing the motif of Daruma as courtesan.2 Yet because just as nothing in the picture suggests a burlesque of Asazuma Boat came to be understood as the reason the shogun’s concubine. It seems logical to assume for Itchō’s exile, the subject was the very embodi- that Itchō first wrote the song (meaning the lyrics) ment of gossip and quickly took on legs. Such talk and then illustrated it. In fact, as noted previously, veered from the truth (as gossip does), yet was con- other pictures in the same album seem more sedi- ceivable; attached to Itchō, it also shaped his repu- tious than Asazuma Boat: the boys’ playful trans- tation. And, as gossip—the seed of legend—is wont gression of the Laws of Compassion (fig. 16f), the to do, it leapt between various forms of communi- suggestion that the Tokugawa rulers are slacking off cation as it proliferated. (fig. 16s), the representations of untoward amorous Very little is certain about the Asazuma-boat pairings, and the temporary mixing of social types motif, but a few things are known (or can be guessed) (figs. s, t) all contain subversive undertones. As for the reasons behind Itchō’s exile, it is pos- Suzuki Harunobu (ca. 1724–70). Asazuma Boat , sible that he was punished in part for works such as detail of fig. 82. Fūzokuga ekan, or possibly because of his involve-

205 the life and afterlives of hanabusa itchō

16g Hanabusa Itchō. Asazuma Boat from Fūzokuga ekan (Album of Genre Paintings). Late 17th century. Album of 24 leaves; ink and color on silk. Ibaraki Prefectural Museum of History.

ment with a satirical pamphlet on the subject of ei- slightly subversive parodies played a part in his pun- ther one hundred prominent men or the same num- ishment. In any case, as we can garner from Baba ber of ladies/courtesans (as discussed in Chapter 4). Bunkō’s account and later versions of the same sto- This rumor might have telescoped into the Asazu- ry, the painting Asazuma Boat was perceived by a ma-boat motif, which was popular in song and growing majority—perhaps during Itchō’s lifetime, dance, as reference to a ruler’s lovers was a common perhaps during the next generation, or perhaps only way of criticizing an authority figure for slacking as a result of Bunkō’s mid-eighteenth-century off. Meiji readings of the story have interpreted the tale—to be the reason for Itchō’s exile. depiction of the willow (yanagi) as a reference to Asazuma boat became Itchō’s most overdeter- Yanagisawa Yoshiyasu (1658–1714), advisor to the mined motif. Although never a major theme, it was shogun Tsunayoshi.3 The rumor about Itchō’s pe- taken up by many artists of song, dance, drama, and ripheral involvement with a murder and the report ukiyo-e, not just for the surface meanings of its sub- of his previous arrest, combined with his allusions ject (an ancient prostitute type), but also for the to having been “lost in the tangled path,” make it subversive connotations that it accrued from its difficult to believe that he was innocent of any trans- popular association with Hanabusa Itchō and his gression. The question is the degree to which his exile. This association is most evident in the debate

206 gossip afloat among intellectual writers about the true reasons ity and Itchō’s tendency to repeat many of his de- for Itchō’s exile, which was fueled by Santō Kyōden’s signs. It is highly likely that Itchō made others, as he 1804 biography of the artist in Kinsei kiseki kō. A lit- did with some of the motifs in the same album in tle later in the nineteenth century, the theme be- which it is found.6 came a veiled symbol of subversiveness in the oie Still, this Asazuma Boat serves well as a proto- sōdō (house-revolt) genre of Kabuki. While taking type. The innate harmony of its simple composi- pains to repudiate the rumor that Asazuma Boat was tion clearly identifies the work as Itchō’s. Stylisti- the cause of Itchō’s exile, Kyōden simultaneously cally, the painting is subtle, like all of Itchō’s output. employed the motif in his fictional books to exploit The brushwork varies slightly: the willow’s dotted subversive connotations that derived only from leaves are differentiated from the sinuous lines of hearsay, as he knew too well. The recurring and its trunk and branches; the very fine outline of the contradictory uses of the Asazuma-boat motif in lady’s face contrasts with the broad brushstrokes his work might be taken as symptomatic of the epis- that define her robes. The lightness of the brush- temological fissures around authorship that were work in the leaves, and the undulating lines in the occurring in the time of the Tanuma generation. tree trunk, mark Itchō’s autograph, as does the A number of extant paintings on the Asazuma- overall light pigmentation. The weight of the work boat theme are signed Hanabusa Itchō, but most of is balanced by variations in the ink tones in the them are of doubtful provenance. The only example curving branches, the sinuous ripples in the water, that is beyond dispute is the Asazuma Boat found and the flow of the calligraphy above. within Fūzokuga ekan (fig. 16g).4 This leaf is signed The song, a kouta written by Itchō and pub- Gyōundō Chōko, a combination of Itchō’s pre-exile lished soon after, is inscribed in his hand on the up- haikai name and his lay priest’s name, dating the per left. Before the song, and just after the initial work to sometime before his exile. This lavish al- vertical seal, Itchō includes a rather long preface bum used to be in the collection of the Hitotsubashi stating that the song is in the style of Ryūtatsu, an branch of the ruling Tokugawa family (as men- important founder of the kouta tradition. The tioned in Chapter 1), but because that line of the hauntingly memorable lyrics, with much reitera- family was only established in the generation after tion of the “ah” sound in Asazuma, are a poignant Itchō’s death, the album could not have entered the lament on the existence of a boat lady who never Hitotsubashi collection during the artist’s lifetime.5 knows who her next partner will be. Translated for Given the richness of the album, and the premise a sense of the whole, they run as follows: that artworks were usually exchanged between members of the same status group, it seems likely Another, yet another, the coming and going of the waves, that the work was a commission from a member of the misery of the Asazuma boat. the highest ranks of the samurai elite. Considering Alas, with whom must I lie today? With whom must Itchō’s role as taikomochi to the samurai elite, it is I share my charms, share my charms? probable that he produced the album for an ally This shameful pillow. among them. With its hints of transgression, in par- This life of never-ending falseness, bedding down near ticular the insignia very much like the Tokugawa Mount Toko. crest within the picture parodying the four sleepers Well, such is life. (fig. 16s), the album may have been made for a knowing friend within Itchō’s circle. Even though (Adashi adanami, yosete wa kaeru nami, asazuma-bune no other convincing example of the Asazuma-boat no asamashiya / Aa, mata no hi wa, tare ni chigiri o ka- motif by Itchō appears to be extant, the Fūzokuga washite iro o, kawashite iro o, makura hazukashi / Itsu- ekan version should not be considered his one orig- warigachinaru, waga tokono ya ma / Yoshi sore totemo inal painting of the motif, given the song’s popular- yo no naka)

207 the life and afterlives of hanabusa itchō

riod). The boat points out into the water, the wom- an’s whitened face is presented in profile, and above her a willow branch echoes the flow of her long hair, which is tied with a ribbon in court fashion. Her presence in the boat identifies her additionally as a funagimi (boat lady), another type of prostitute- entertainer of the classical era, who would row out to larger boats to attract wealthy clients. Itchō rendered this amalgamated prostitute type out of an imagined past. The Asazuma boat had figured in poetry from at least the medieval pe- riod. Prostitutes had most likely worked at the large and well-frequented port in a previous era; by Itchō’s time, however, Asazuma was defunct as a port, completely replaced in this function by the nearby port of Maebara.7 Indeed, the nature of the literary evidence available raises doubts as to whether such boat ladies ever frequented that spot at all.8 After all, the funagimi was a common poetic trope, derived from Chinese precedents. Yet during Itchō’s time, Asazuma—in addition to Eguchi, Kanzaki, and Muro—was considered one of the places where prostitution originated.9 Ihara Sai- kaku, in his 1682 novel Kōshoku ichidai otoko (The Life of an Amorous Man), compares the prostitutes of Asazuma to those of Muro to impart a sense of 78 Kabuki playbill (e-banzuke) for Musume Dōjōji (The the loss of an elegant, mysterious past:10 Maiden at Dōjōji). 1753. Woodblock print; ink on paper, in a book of collected playbills. Tokyo Metro- The beginnings of yūjo in this country came out of the politan Library, Rare Books Collection, Kaga 5685-3. Asazuma [port] of Kōshū and the Muro port of Banshū; now they have spread to every province. At Asazuma, they disappeared at some point, and now there are only The simple, well-designed composition is com- women in humble hovels, working both day and night, prised of a handful of elements—lady, boat, willow weaving rustic kasuri cloth while the men pull in fishing tree, and inscription—and a few supporting touch- nets. In the largest port of the Western province, how- es. Rendered in light colors on silk, the image de- ever, the yūjo of Muro are not bested by their predeces- picts a lady dressed in male court attire, seated alone sors; their accomplishments and manners do not differ in a shallow boat, under a willow tree. She repre- much from the yūjo of Osaka.11 sents a precursor to the yūjo of the Edo era. Her clothing and accoutrements—the tall gold eboshi In his simple rendering, Itchō invented a convincing (court hat) on her head, her loose white suikan predecessor to the Edo prostitute in the figure that (short jacket) over red and blue under-robes, the fan he designated as the Asazuma boat lady by means peeking out from her garments, and the small drum of a song. He set her in the past by dressing her as a resting in front of her—identify her as a shirabyōshi shirabyōshi, as was done on stage; in fact, Baba (an entertainer-prostitute of the early medieval pe- Bunkō describes Itchō’s Asazuma boat lady as

208 gossip afloat

79 Okumura Masanobu (1686–1764). Koi no kawabune Eguchi (Riverboat of Love: Eguchi). Mid-18th century. Handcolored woodblock print; ink and color on paper. 27.2 x 38.6 cm. The Art Institute of Chicago.

wearing “stage dress.” Her shirabyōshi costume, classic visual formula in Asazuma boat. Rendering with its eboshi and fan, is much like that of the main visually—for the first time—motifs that had existed female character in the famous Kabuki play Mu- only within the realm of classical poetry, he was sume Dōjōji (The Maiden at Dōjōji), as seen in a faced with a choice about whether to portray these playbill (e-banzuke) from 1753 (fig. 78). Notably, subjects in the imagined past, to bring the figures up Edo-period artists did not always portray prosti- to date, or to make a mitate, a double vision, by mix- tutes in clothing of the past.12 For example, Oku- ing up the past and present. With taking shelter mura Masanobu (1686–1764), in a woodblock print from the rain (which also has its roots in poetry), he from about 1710 entitled Riverboat of Love: Eguchi brought the motif into the noisy present, thereby (Koi no kawabune Eguchi), depicts probably the creating a slight parody of a classical theme. In the most famous funagimi, a lady who worked the river context of Fūzokuga ekan, the Asazuma boat prosti- at Eguchi, in contemporary dress, flanked by her tute nicely coincides with the adjacent scene of the kamuro and writing a love letter (fig. 79). Jewel River in the distant past. Again, absolutely no As with some of his other popular themes (such evidence exists that Itchō intended Asazuma Boat to as taking shelter from the rain), Itchō invented a be a parody of Oden no kata. This connection seems

209 the life and afterlives of hanabusa itchō

80 Tokyo Bijutsu Kurabu (Tokyo Art Club). Pages from auction catalogue of the Matsusawa collection, showing items on the Asazuma-boat theme. May 4, 1925. National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, The Library, Department of Art Research, Archives, and Information Systems.

to have happened only in the mind of the public. serve as tangible evidence that Itchō and others of The signature on Asazuma Boat in Fūzokuga his time divided their artistic practice conceptually ekan is remarkable for the way that it elaborates on deserves further research. The word egaki, mean- authorship. After the headnote to the song, Itchō ing both “write” and “paint,” signifies the fluid adds, almost as a postscript: “Tawabure ni mizuka- boundary between text and image that remained ra egaki, mizukara shōka shi, mizukara sansu” until the Meiji period.13 Itchō’s unusual variant (Playfully painted/written by myself, composed by shōka (lyrics; shō meaning “stanzas of prose or po- myself, and inscribed by myself). This triple insist- etry,” ka meaning “song”) seemingly refers to his ence that he personally rendered all aspects of the insistence that he wrote the words to the song. San, creation is rare for any artist. It is especially unusual in sansu (meaning “inscription”), emphasizes that to repeat mizukara (myself) three times. None of Itchō himself brushed the inscription. (Tradition- Itchō’s other works in this album are signed in a ally, even in Itchō’s time, someone else would often similar way, nor are any of his other extant works. inscribe an artist’s painting with his or her own The way in which this unusual inscription may poem.) Overall, Itchō’s postscript reflects his idea

210 gossip afloat of the all-encompassing persona of the artist: not confirms that rich merchant families, as well as elite only did he compose the lyrics, but he also rendered samurai such as the Hitotsubashi clan, collected both song and image visually. This triple signature works by Itchō—or, rather, works that they believed is all the more significant because signatures were were by him—related to Asazuma boat. One kozu- often omitted in Itchō’s day (following earlier prac- ka (small sword guard) that depicts the theme has tice), depending on the type of patronage and the made its way to the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston status of the painter.14 Broadly, the inscription can (fig. 81). Although this comprises evidence that a be interpreted as an example of the way that in- certain demand existed for works depicting the creased circulation had commodified art so that Asazuma boat, none of these works conclusively artists, including Itchō, more readily signed their dates from Itchō’s lifetime. works.15 More specifically, the signature is an indi- cation that Itchō wished to be recognized for his authorship of the song and image, as well as for his Meanings Accrued erudite calligraphy. Baba Bunkō’s account indicates that this motif Today, the Asazuma-boat theme is familiar to Japa- was in extraordinary demand, in versions both by nese involved in any of the art practices that became Itchō and his pupils.16 Although Bunkō’s tale is popular during the Edo period. Unlike many other most likely exaggerated, the composition at least motifs found in traditional Japanese arts, it is not a must have had the reputation of being popular. completely anonymous creation: the name Hana- Four extant versions of the painting can be count- busa Itchō is still linked to the Asazuma-boat motif ed, along with a total of twenty different published in explications of Kabuki dance, for instance.19 If, up versions of the theme. Additionally, the Asazuma- until the early twentieth century, it was considered boat motif was reproduced in craftwork, on items common knowledge that Itchō had created this mo- from medicine cases to sword guards.17 A treasure tif, the rumor that it caused his exile is almost cer- trove of materials related to the theme published in tainly the reason why.20 a 1925 auction catalogue of the Matsusawa collec- In the course of the Edo period, Itchō’s song and tion shows how popular it once was, with some col- image were adapted to become a standard feature of lectors fixating solely on the subject and various the repertoires of various popular art forms: samis- painters and craftsmen willingly supplying their en songs, Kabuki dance, and woodblock prints. As demand (fig. 80).18 This collection of objects also shown by its publication in Matsu no ha in 1703, the

81 Yokoya school. Kozuka (knife) handle with design of the Asazuma boat. Late 18th–early 19th century. Shibuichi with migakiji, gold and silver, katakiri-bori, and hirazogan. 9.5 x 1.4 x 0.4 cm. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

211 the life and afterlives of hanabusa itchō

82 Suzuki Harunobu (ca. 1724–70). Asazuma Boat. Circa 1769–70. Woodblock print; ink and color on paper. 28 x 20.6 cm. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

212 the life and afterlivesgossip afl ofoa hanabusat itchō

83 Utagawa Hiroshige (1797–1858). Takanawa nijūroku no machi (Moon Watching on the Twenty-Sixth at Takanawa). 1844–47. Woodblock fan print; ink and colors on paper. The National Museum in Krakow.

song likely became a part of the dance repertoire in of willow, the boat, and the manner of dress. Know- the pleasure quarters from the time that Itchō wrote ing the influence of performance on Harunobu’s it. The first known performance of “Asazuma-bune” work, we might speculate that this print was in- as a Kabuki dance dates to 1775, but the motif ap- spired by a private staging of the dance.23 The same peared in ukiyo-e even before these Kabuki perfor- can be said for a much later ukiyo-e print by Hiro- mances.21 The earliest extant ukiyo-e prints on the shige, dated to 1844–47 (fig. 83). Moon Watching on theme are by Suzuki Harunobu (ca. 1724–70).22 the Twenty-Sixth at Takanawa (Takanawa nijūroku In a work that can be dated to around 1760, a pu- no machi) clearly depicts a private performance of bescent and almost androgynous standing figure, “Asazuma-bune.” At a restaurant, a dancer gets so typical of the Harunobu style, turns toward the ready to perform on the occasion of moon-viewing viewer, yet seems to shy away (fig. 82). The gray in the seventh month: “waiting on the twenty- boat and background set off the refined elegance of sixth,” as the print’s cartouche states. On this occa- her robes. Cropped closely, this image contains lit- sion, the Buddha Amida with the bodhisattvas tle to recall the Itchō version other than the branch Kannon and Seishi (Mahāsthāmaprāpta) were said

213 the life and afterlives of hanabusa itchō

A Question of Attribution

Establishing where Itchō was credited in print as the originator of “Asazuma-bune” helps us understand both how the Asazuma-boat motif was linked to him and how the concept of authorship was being socially constructed at the time. It is something of an anomaly that “Asazuma-bune” did not fade com- pletely into anonymity, like so many of the songs that Itchō must have written. Kyōden’s Kinsei kiseki kō seems to have played a large part in the recovery of this aspect of Itchō’s persona. Yet if Itchō had not emphasized his authorship of the song with his tri- partite signature, and his Hanabusa-school succes- 67b, c Shūshōken (dates unknown). Lyrics to the song “Asazuma-bune” from Matsu no ha sors had not perpetuated his name, it is unlikely that (Pine Needles). 1703. Woodblock-printed book; Kyōden would have recovered Itchō’s authorship. ink on paper. National Archives of Japan. As mentioned previously, when “Asazuma- bune” was published in the Kyoto songbook Matsu no ha, compiled by Shūshōken in 1703, it appeared to appear. In the nineteenth century, viewings were in the hauta (love songs) section of the third vol- often held at restaurants in Shinagawa. The Asazu- ume, where authorship is not indicated (figs. 67b, ma-boat theme can be identified here by the danc- c). Printed under the title “Asazuma-bune” (which er’s costume (a gold eboshi and fan), the drum held is not found in Itchō’s painting), the song has three by her companion, and the prow of the tilted boat, verses in addition to the one inscribed by Itchō in painted with waves, peeking in from the right. Fūzokuga ekan. The first verse, which is inscribed These ukiyo-e examples seem to indicate that on the painting and therefore certainly written by the Asazuma-boat motif entered the popular main- Itchō, is transcribed completely and accurately in stream from the realm of dance independently of easy-to-read kana. The repetition mark found in the Itchō legend. Given the wide dissemination of Itchō’s original, indicating the repeat of “share my Baba Bunkō’s tale from the mid-eighteenth centu- charms” (kawashite iro o), caused confusion for later ry, however, it is likely that depictions in ukiyo-e transcribers, but the mark is not used here; the reference Itchō’s painting as well. Although the phrase is simply repeated. We can only note the ac- Asazuma boat was only a minor motif in nine- curate transcription of the words and wonder if teenth-century Japan, the theme apparently ab- Itchō indeed wrote the other verses. Inclusion of the sorbed many meanings, some connected with obvious title could certainly be a mechanical result Itchō’s authorship and others focused on exploiting of listing the song among other works in the table of the potential of the Asazuma boat as an icon of the contents. In other sections of the book, the songs era’s tensions. Thus the making of Itchō as a notori- are attributed to musicians; another song by Itchō, ous artist, the codification of the prostitute as a for example, is attributed to a certain Hanaichi. We modern symbol, and the playful manner of artistic can probably assume that Itchō was not given cred- borrowing peculiar to the Edo period are all tan- it because only musicians are credited, and he was gled up in the dissemination of one seemingly sim- not a professional musician. ple popular motif. Although the introduction to the 1733 songbook Sanjūrokusei fumoto no chiri credits Itchō with an im- portant role in the composition of a type of erudite

214 gossip afloat

70e Suzuki Rinshō (1732–1803). Asazuma Boat from Itchō gafu (Itchō Pictorial Album). 1770. Woodblock-printed book; ink and light color on paper. 27 x 19 cm. National Diet Library, Rare Books and Old Materials Collection.

samisen song, the nagauta, Itchō’s name was not mentioned Itchō gafu in 1770 (fig. 70e). Itchō’s au- linked in print to any particular songs until Kyōden’s thorship of the painting is not especially noted, nor Kinsei kiseki kō appeared in 1804. It seems that Itchō is his signature or seal indicated. In fact, none of the could not be sure of being recognized as the writer works reproduced in Itchō gafu bear a signature or of “Asazuma-bune” in his own time, and this may be seal. Because these reproductions were included in why he so adamantly asserts in his painting that he a monographic art manual titled with Itchō’s name, composed its words. As we shall see, Kyōden claimed however, the viewer of the album could assume that to have learned of Itchō’s authorship of “Asazuma- the paintings were Itchō’s. bune” from attributed manuscript copies. As in Matsu no ha, the title “Asazuma-bune” is By the early nineteenth century, Kabuki libret- found in the table of contents to Itchō gafu; it also tists had achieved rank within the official system of appears on the right side of the image. The two pag- professional rankings. Thus Sakurada Jisuke II es offer a cropped, compressed view of the motif’s (1768–1829) was credited in print as the librettist major components. The composition basically ac- when he used Itchō’s song as the source for a na- cords with Itchō’s version: the willow and hillock gauta that he composed for a Kabuki song and are to the right; the shirabyōshi sits in profile, facing dance performance in 1820. In a collection of Ka- left. This image is not an exact reproduction of the buki songs (shohon) published for fans soon after picture in Fūzokuga ekan, however; the details are what proved to be a very popular performance, slightly altered. The front branch of the tree, for in- Jisuke’s name appears along with those of the com- stance, twists around in the opposite direction. poser, the performing musicians, and the Kabuki Moreover, the brushwork is more exaggeratedly star. Only the names of the performing musicians varied than Itchō’s, with more of a contrast between are displayed in the e-banzuke, however. the wide broken brush of the tree’s trunk and the The “Asazuma-bune” song was reproduced diminutive strokes of its descending branches. alongside the painting in Suzuki Rinshō’s afore- Whereas a light wash defines the hillock in Itchō’s

215 the life and afterlives of hanabusa itchō original painting, the Rinshō image outlines the portantly that, as Itchō’s artistic ideas were passed edges of the hillock with a sharp, “hammered” down through generations in the Hanabusa stroke, and then adds short, triangular “axe” strokes. school, the image—rather than the song—was of Additional differences are seen in the reeds, which primary concern. here are tall and well defined; and the woman’s robes, which display a chrysanthemum pattern and many more folds. Overall, Rinshō’s image places Kyōden’s Facts more emphasis on varied brushwork, reflecting the mannerisms of literati painting, which was a preva- In and of itself, Itchō’s Asazuma Boat seems to be lent practice by the end of the eighteenth century. merely an agreeable depiction of an imagined The reproduction of this work raises questions funagimi of the past, with a touching song on the about the assumed function of gafu, for this image same theme. Any further depth that the picture in particular and the album format in general. More might claim would seem to come from empathizing than almost any of the other images in the album, with the figure and her circumstances. Knowing that “Asazuma-bune” contains visual mechanisms ap- the image was widely taken to be the reason behind propriate to the reproduction of a painting. Along Itchō’s exile, however, makes us question the his- with only one of the other images in the book, it in- tory of its reception closely. In 1757, more than cludes directions for coloration (as noted in Chap- thirty years after Itchō’s death, Baba Bunkō was ter 5): “Eboshi gold, top white with silver crests, the first to publically allege (through a circuitous hakama red.” The image is not transcribed with ab- narrative) that this rendering was a satire of Oden, solute accuracy; rather, a different kind of authen- the shogun’s concubine. The next important ticity is conveyed in the exaggerated brushwork, source on the subject is the discussion that Santō which reproduces the original more distinctly for Kyōden chose to include just after Itchō’s biogra- the reader who knows how to use a brush. Even so, phy in Kinsei kiseki kō. Itchō’s original design is echoed in the printed re- If Bunkō’s version was a main source for the production. It bears repeating that, beyond serving popular Edo-period view that Asazuma Boat was as copybooks for artistic practice, these books were the cause of Itchō’s exile, Kyōden’s commentary in visual records that could be perused for pleasure or Kinsei kiseki kō has been the basis upon which writ- for reference. It would seem that versions of Itchō’s ers since then have verified Itchō’s authorship. Asazuma Boat were not readily available to every- Kyōden’s dense text is significant, first of all, be- one in the mid-eighteenth century. This gafu cer- cause it refutes the rumor set forth in Bunkō’s tale. tainly disseminated the motif, making it easier for Yet, reading Kyōden’s text against Bunkō’s, another later ukiyo-e artists to adopt it into their repertoire. level is perceived in the writers’ contrasting aims. The song is reproduced to the upper left of the Just as Bunkō’s account participates in the popular shirabyōshi. The mixture of kanji (Chinese charac- construction of the artist-rebel, Kyōden, in his ters) and kana employed here is very similar to scholarly manner, reifies the writer in general as that used by Itchō in his inscription; the wide char- one who creates out of tradition and then becomes acters seem to be in Itchō’s style as well. Differ- the rightful owner of his creation. In this discus- ences are present, however, and most significantly, sion, authorial truth depends on accuracy and attri- Rinshō’s version is not wholly accurate: the repeat bution, though Kyōden’s transcription and research of kawashite iro o, indicated with a repetition mark were not, in fact, entirely accurate. in Itchō’s version, is elided. Perhaps this is the sort As mentioned in the last chapter, Kyōden was at of inadvertent omission that is inevitable over the center of a circle of popular authors of gesaku. time. But it may also show that Rinshō was unfa- His public notoriety only increased after he was miliar with the rhythms of samisen; and more im- handcuffed for fifty days in 1791, at the beginning of

216 gossip afloat the Kansei Reforms, a series of reactionary policy (Kono nenuru Asazuma-bune no asakaranu, changes instituted to reverse many of the liberaliz- chigiri o tare ni mata kawasuran) ing measures of the previous decade. After this ex- perience, Kyōden was more reflexive about his own Written in Michikatsu’s own hand, the gift delighted authorship, and increasingly applied the kōshō gaku Itchō and he treasured it deeply. One year, when Itchō went methodology of “investigation of texts” to the his- to Hikone in Omi, and was going here and there to see the tory of the Edo culture in which he participated. famous places, he was met by the sight of the desolate town Kinsei kiseki kō was Kyōden’s first attempt to legiti- of Asazuma (Omi Province, Handa township). Itchō re- mate the heterodox playfulness of his gesaku en- called the poem by Michikatsu, and he was inspired. Pres- deavors by means of reference to previous texts. ently, he painted the motif of the Asazuma boat, and he Within the work, the discussion of Itchō’s Asazuma made up the kouta “Asazuma Boat” to accompany it. Boat takes up as much space as Itchō’s biography; starting at the far edge of a page, it is marked by the There is a poem by Kikaku published in Gogenshū: number “two” (figs. 73b, c, h). The following translation is from the original Under the willow, a drum that awaits song. edition of Kyōden’s book: This must have been an inscription to a related painting by Itchō. It is said that, later, Itchō sang this Thoughts on the Inscription to Asazuma Boat himself at a party at a lord’s mansion with Ichikawa- kengyō (who lived at Kanda Nabemachi) accompanying The colophon to Asazuma Boat: him on samisen. As for the painting Asazuma Boat, there are various outrageous things said about it. All this is Another, yet another, the coming and going of certainly falsehood. The picture that everyone knows, the waves, the misery of the Asazuma boat. which depicts a yūjo wearing an eboshi and suikan, is a Alas, with whom must I lie today? With whom version that Itchō did in his late years. Originally, Itchō must I share my charms? This shameful pillow. painted just an eboshi and drum left strewn about the This life of never-ending falseness, bedding boat. {This is what I heard from a member of the Hana- down near Mount Toko. busa school, who heard it from someone who signs him- Well, such is life.24 self the “old man.” I have thought about it, and note my thoughts below.}26 Hokusōō Itchō, painted and inscribed (with I do not think the only source of this song was Mi- marks for seals) chikatsu’s poem.

These words, as copied in the world, are full of mis- Roppyaku-ban utaawase by Gokyōgoku Sessho:27 takes. I found an authentic version in the collection of Konryūtōkan to copy for this edition.25 Coming and going, the “pillow of waves” be- When he was young, Itchō was given a poem as a longs to no one; the reflection of the boat is nev- present from a friend who had visited the capital. By er the same. Yasokuken Michikatsu, and titled “Boat Entertainers,” it read, (Dare to naku, yoseteha kaeru nami makura, ukitaru fune no kage moto domezu) The promises of an Asazuma boat [lady] are not shallow like the name; Shinzoku dairin Miscellaneous “Courtesan of the who will my next liaison be? Crags” by Sanekage [1661–1738]:

217 the life and afterlives of hanabusa itchō

The empty “pillow of waves” lapping at the I believe that these words were put to the style of shore; for whom does the hut in the shadow of Ryūtatsu’s music. The song was out in the world, and the pines wait? Itchō inscribed the first stanza on his painting. Itchō added “Shiki e” as a later colophon to his painting: (Adanami no, makura sadamenu kawagishi ni, “When I was young, under the spell of the empty, empty dare to mare toka matsu kage no yado) waves [adashi adanami], a person of the night, returning in the morning hours as light rain fell, it distressed me Other things have occurred to me. “Mount Toko” is not to see the glare of dawn.” Itchō surely wrote this nos- a play on toko [bed] . . . talgically, thinking of how he used to sing this song on The songs of Ryūtatsu were still sung in the Gen- his way to and from the pleasure quarters. roku era, and Itchō wrote the words to many such songs. {The headnote to the song inscribed on the painting Of them, “Asazuma Boat” and “Eastern Clouds” . . . refers to a different kouta published in the 1672 Shochiku were especially popular, and the men-about-town [ta- shoshin shū:} ware-o] of the time loved to sing them. Evidencing this, “Asazuma Boat” was published in the book of songs “One with the Torn Sedge Hat” Matsu no ha in Genroku 16 [1703]. It is found in the hauta The torn sedge hat, YANYA, the cord broken, section, with four verses as follows: OOEEE! we can’t wear it again, EESANSA, YAASANSA, nor throw it out! [The song is reproduced here as in Matsu no ha, (Yabure sugegasa, YANYA, shime o gakireteino, although the repetition of kawashite iro o is omitted.] OOEEE, sarani kimosezu, EESANSA, YAASANSA, sutemosezu)

218 gossip afloat

73b, c, h Santō Kyōden (1761–1816). “Thoughts on the Inscription to Asazuma Boat” from Kinsei kiseki kō (Thoughts on Recent Strange Phenomena). 1804. Woodblock-printed book; ink on paper. National Archives of Japan.

This is a song by Ryūtatsu. It was popular in the Kan- As Kyōden himself remarks, the deepest underly- bun era, accompanied by samisen or shakuhachi. Itchō’s ing reason for printing the song and this exegesis headnote to “Asazuma Boat” . . . means that this song by was to correct the “mistakes” (ayamari) and the Ryūtatsu is long transmitted. Sedge is a famous product “outrageous things said” (aranu kotodomo o tsutahi of Omi, so the link is to Omi. Ryūtatsu lived in Sakai in tsutafuru to) about the painting. His aforemen- Izumi Province and was famous for kouta. I have put his tioned response to criticism made by a member of detailed biography in my Kotto-shū. Many of the songs the Hanabusa school—smashing the printing written by Itchō had their melodies composed by the blocks, erasing Itchō’s dates of exile, and correcting blind musician Hanaichi. Itchō’s kouta “Eastern Clouds” the words of the song—evidences how delicate a is also published in Matsu no ha, under the name of Hanai- matter he considered an accurate rendering to be. chi. He is the one who wrote the melody, not the words. By emphasizing the many poetic sources behind Another thought I have concerns a poem published the song and image, Kyōden strongly implies that in Shōbikin.28 “Asazuma-bune” could not have been intended as a parody of Oden no kata, although he does not ad- To a picture of an Asazuma boat with a drum, a dress the rumor explicitly. He asserts that the paint- girl in a suikan gazing at the moon, holding a fan: ing and song were directly inspired by Itchō’s visit Who is “throwing the tune,” while gazing at the to the town of Asazuma and recollection of a poem moon from a boat? that he had received, written by Yasokuken Michi- (omou koto nagebushi ha tare tsukimi bune) katsu (1556–1610), a poet of the recent past. Kyōden {This was surely also an inscription to a painting by then supplements this information with other pos- Itchō.} sible poetic sources, suggesting strongly that Itchō’s

219 the life and afterlives of hanabusa itchō song and painting comprised a contribution to an sibility that Itchō’s painting was intended as a trans- ongoing artistic tradition. In this narrative, the art- gression against the authorities. Kyōden consecrated ist is an originator within the flow of a poetic legacy. Itchō’s work, but he also delimited it as the creator’s Just as Kyōden lauds the song’s intertextuality, rightful property, even while rooted in tradition. he valorizes Itchō by means of his poetic relation- Though quite different in aim and method, ship to his contemporaries and predecessors. The Kyōden’s thorough sifting of the sources for Itchō’s claim that “Sugegasa-bushi” (One with the Torn song and painting bears comparison with Bunkō’s Sedge Hat) was a song by Ryūtatsu enables us to earlier tale, which ascribed the cause of Itchō’s exile understand Itchō’s reference to him in his inscrip- to the painting. Bunkō and Kyōden were both pub- tion on the painting.29 Kyōden implies that Itchō’s lic figures who were punished, and gained notorie- original version of Asazuma Boat depicted just a hat ty, for “slips of the pen” (hikkashi), the euphemism and drum in a boat, in response to a poem by his for seditious writing. Both were involved with un- haikai compatriot Kikaku. No remaining versions orthodox literary movements of their times: Bunkō of Asazuma Boat show just a hat and drum, and a with haikai and Kyōden with gesaku. Both of their recent scholar doubts that the poem by Kikaku cit- texts, moreover, insist on the existence of hidden ed here was inscribed on a painting by Itchō.30 Here truths within the painting. In very different ways, we most likely see Kyōden’s wishful creation of both texts are deeply concerned with “authoriza- Itchō’s symbiotic relationship with Kikaku. tion”—or the making of the author. Kyōden’s exegesis does not contain detailed ex- planation. The reader must work to draw conclu- sions from the material that is presented. Much of Kyōden’s Playfulness Kyōden’s underlying argument disputes what he perceives as false beliefs about the Asazuma-boat The latter half of the Edo period was a time when motif, and much relates to sources of influence. Yet genres and schools of the visual and literary arts ex- Kyōden’s discussion also explains the work in terms panded and differentiated themselves, and writers of the artist. Relating the song to Itchō’s colophon and authors became increasingly professionalized “Shiki e-batsu,” by painting a scene of Itchō walk- as the markets for their works grew. The Asazuma- ing home at dawn, singing, “When I was young, un- boat motif began to appear regularly in popular der the spell of the empty, empty waves” (wakakari- media only after the Kansei Reforms. From the shi toki adashi adanami no yorubeni mayoi), Kyōden early 1790s, Edo culture—having flourished in the reminds the reader of how Itchō’s pursuits in the previous decade under the corrupt yet lenient re- pleasure quarters led to exile. Following a “man and gime of the senior counselor Tanuma Okitsugu— his work” type of criticism, Itchō’s song is seen as was subjected to the most censorious of the three intrinsically related to his fate in life. reform periods of the Tokugawa era under the new Kyōden was a professional author. As one of the senior counselor, Matsudaira Sadanobu. Authori- most successful writers of his period, he had a form- ties made an example of Kyōden, in particular, by ative influence on several subgenres of gesaku. his aforementioned shackling in 1791. Afterward, Whenever a work of his became immensely popular Kyōden stopped writing kibyōshi, a genre that had (as in this case), other publishers pirated it and become openly critical of governing parties; most Kyōden lost income. Partly for this reason, Kyōden scholars view this cessation as Kyōden’s direct re- was invested in distinguishing the facts of author- sponse to the censorship imposed by the reforms. ship. Thus he was motivated to give an authentic ver- Many claim, as well, that Kyōden’s turn to the seri- sion of Itchō’s creation, and also to understand the ous, scholarly stance of the “investigation of things” authorial intention of the original work. With his was also a consequence of the Kansei Reforms. naming of so many sources, Kyōden erased the pos-

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Kyōden shows a greater preoccupation with the After concocting a lineage of artists who did this Asazuma-boat motif than any other writer of his playful type of painting, he states that no one has time. It was not only the topic of his close exegesis yet surpassed the “fresh concepts” (shinzu) of the in Kinsei kiseki kō, but made its way into at least four “mad pictures” (kyōga) by Itchō.34 The preface goes of his “playful works.” The earliest reference to on to demonstrate how the playful mode works by Asazuma Boat is found in his kibyōshi of 1785, linking high and low. Mustaches are used to con- Kakuchū chōji (A Clove in the Quarters). In a typical nect people, fish, and objects; sedge hats relate peo- back-and-forth between a contemporary narrative ple of all ranks in life. Kyōden states that people and classical references, the story uses Zhuangzi’s laughed at his jokes and urged him to publish them dream about the butterfly as a narrative device. The in a book. He ends his preface by naming the source tale begins by describing two attractive young of the title, as was customary: he borrowed it from wakashū who are classical bugaku performers of Kikaku’s book Ku kyōdai (Brother Poems). Finally, Kochō, the butterfly dance famous from Genji mo- Kyōden adds that he wrote the preface himself be- nogatari.31 The circuitous narrative includes Itchō cause someone needed to praise what would be- as a character and plays off his Asazuma-boat com- come a commodity on the open market. position. As one of the young men brings a courte- san out of Yoshiwara, Hanabusa Itchō (named in the text) appears on the bank and offers his house as a hiding spot (fig. 84). The text explains that the image of the escaping couple is rendered in a style similar to the painting Asazuma Boat, but indeed the picture, with its older elite samurai poling the boat, looks very much like the image of Oden no kata and the shogun that Bunkō described.32 The motif’s next appearance in Kyōden’s fiction bears even closer analysis. E-kyōdai, published by Tsutaya Jūzaburō and the house of Tsuruya Kie- mon, and illustrated by Kyōden himself, appeared in 1794, three years after Kyōden’s punishment. The book’s title page describes its content as shinshi ge- saku (newly published playful works), making a spe- cific link to the word “playful” (the character for ta- wamure) as used by Itchō in his signature to Asazuma Boat. The book is thus a rich source for understand- ing how work termed “playful” crossed visual and textual boundaries.33 It is also a crucial starting place for understanding Kyōden’s role in transforming the haikai sensibility into a recognized genre called giga. Not at all satirical in a political sense, the hu- mor in E-kyōdai instead addresses ordinary life. E-kyōdai is an exercise in drawing unexpected conclusions based on analogies of things not usual- 84 Santō Kyōden (1761–1816). Kakuchū chōji (A Clove ly compared. Kyōden states in his preface that he in the Quarters). 1785. Woodblock-printed book; ink came upon the ideas for the comparisons while on paper. Tokyo Metropolitan Library, Rare Books clearing the refuse from the trash can of his mind. Collection, Kaga hako 47-2.

221 the life and afterlives of hanabusa itchō

85 Santō Kyōden (1761–1816). E-kyōdai (Brother Pictures). 1794. Woodblock-printed book; ink on paper. Na- tional Diet Library, Rare Books and Old Materials Collection.

The Asazuma boat lady appears in Kyōden’s A not-at-all-shallow alliance of the Asazuma boat very first example (fig. 85). The “older brother” tonight—now who will it be? (ani) is a manzai (comedic) performer and the “younger brother” (otōto) is the Asazuma boat lady. (Koyoi neru Asazuma-bune no asakaranu chigiri o They are implicitly compared in the images, and dare ni mata kawasu ran) some very contemporary economic tensions arise out of the comparison. The manzai comedian, who This verse is followed by a haikai poem signed Shūshiki, traditionally received sake in exchange for New a doyenne active in the Kikaku school of haikai:35 Year’s performances, voices his irritation plainly: The mist that alights on the prow of the boat, Here I am again, looking across the Sumida River— remaining tears from our encounter. what can I say? Oh, I’m all sobered up from the New Year’s sake. This isn’t at all like my home in Mikawa. (Funabari no tsuyu wa, / morone no namida kana)

The “younger brother,” the Asazuma boat lady, is paired A page in the back of the book offers a seemingly with a play on the poem that Kyōden attributes to Michi- nonsensical explanation for these sibling compari- katsu in Kinsei kiseki kō: sons. The stream-of-consciousness prattle begins

222 gossip afloat with the first phrase of Itchō’s song, “Adashi adana- kagura tsurugi no itoku (Kagura Dance and the mi, yosete ha kaeru nami,” then brings up money, Sword), released from 1808 to 1810 by the publisher referring to the boat lady by the contemporary vul- Iwatoya Kizaburō, and illustrated by Katsukawa gar term for boat prostitutes, funamanjū. Next, tak- Shuntei (1770–1820).37 The references to Itchō’s ing the stance of someone on the shore viewing the “Asazuma-bune” contained in this work are more Asazuma boat, the narrative voice expresses the textual than visual.38 The reference to Asazuma wish that melons were for sale in the boat rather boat in the second gōkan is overt in its title: Asazu- than the woman. The ramblings descend into a dis- ma-bune yanagi mikazuki (New Moon, Willow, and cussion of swords. Asazuma Boat). Utagawa Kuniyoshi was commis- Although anyone who knew the song or image sioned to illustrate the book, which was published could presumably associate the motif with him, in 1813 by Maruya Kihachi. Kuniyoshi, the master of Itchō goes unmentioned in the main text of E-kyōdai. actor prints, dramatically stages the figures through- The image, however, is more similar to Itchō’s than out the book; indeed, the preface states that the the earlier reworking within Kakuchū chōji. Follow- book is constructed to be like theater.39 A visual link ing up on his praise for Itchō in the preface, Kyōden to Itchō’s image is made in the explanatory pictures makes Itchō’s famous motif the first example of placed above the characters in the story when they variations of giga, thus creating a link to a famous are initially introduced. A typical Itchō-derived antecedent in order to borrow the aura of his reflect- Asazuma boat picture is placed on the right, while ed fame and notoriety. The fact that a writer would to the left the boat lady’s lowly incarnation in the identify himself with someone who played with sub- book, Okan, is shown avenging herself on the re- versive modes indicates the growing social recogni- tainers of her enemy (fig. 86a). Much later in the tion of the artist and writer as social rebel. book, Kuniyoshi demonstrates more fully his skill The inherent malleability of the Asazuma-boat at staging this fighting scene (fig. 86b). In the center motif is used to full advantage in E-kyōdai, which is we see the boat lady holding two ruffians whom she primarily an exploitation of the possibilities of giga. is about to toss out of her boat by the scruffs of their For instance, the artist’s identification (playful or necks; in the lower left the ruffians have landed on serious) with the victims of an open market is just shore, and in the upper left her boyfriend pummels one interpretation of the motif that is operative in one of them on the far bank. this example. Kyōden uses the yūjo here as a symbol Both of these gōkan feature revenge plots that of cold economic exchange. And the comparison contain several love pairings and cases of mixed between the Asazuma boat prostitute and a male identity. And both books reveal the fluid relation- entertainer dissolves gender differences in the ship between Kabuki and the other arts that was world of performers. Kyōden was not the only art- characteristic of the early nineteenth century.40 ist of the time to portray the figure of theyūjo em- Books were by then widely circulated (thanks to pathetically as a parallel to the artist’s prostitution lending libraries), and the readership of gōkan no- of himself in the market.36 Certainly one aspect of tably extended to women, who were also frequent- the broad usage of the yūjo in the arts during Ja- ing the theaters. The appeal of these strong female pan’s Early Modern period was the analogy that protagonists in gōkan has been causatively linked to could easily be drawn between entertainers and the increase in feminine readership. In fact, a gen- prostitutes offering themselves to any paying client, eral rise in powerful female protagonists did char- and authors and artists producing books, paintings, acterize Kabuki and ukiyo-e at this time. Certainly prints—and indeed merchants providing many we may imagine how many women readers might types of goods—for a faceless public. have projected themselves into the character of Kyōden later inserted the Asazuma-boat motif Okan, delighting in how this lady of the boat over- into two of his illustrated gōkan; the first was Iwato came her male adversaries.

223 the life and afterlives of hanabusa itchō

86a, b Santō Kyōden (1761–1816). Asazuma-bune yanagi mikazuki (New Moon, Willow, and Asazuma Boat). 1813. Woodblock-printed book; ink on paper. Tokyo Metropolitan Library, Rare Books Collection, Kaga hako 94-6-1.

224 gossip afloat

Kyōden was not the only artist involved in the According to the Kabuki dance historian Furui- creation of the genre of playful works to exploit the do Hideo, “Asazuma-bune” first appeared as a Ka- multifaceted significance of the Asazuma boat.41 By buki dance in 1775, and then again in 1790, just be- repetitively employing this motif in various genres fore the Kansei Reforms.42 These dances reveal just of books, however, he certainly revealed many sides how malleable the motif could be within Kabuki: in to it. In Kakuchū chōji, he seemed to take his cue the 1775 performance, a tea-seller momentarily from the image as it was described by Bunkō. Then, poses like the Asazuma boat lady; and in the 1790 in his introduction to the playful E-kyōdai, he pre- performance, gender is reversed and a handsome sented the boat prostitute empathetically as a vic- young retainer is cast as a “male Asazuma.” From tim of cold economic exchange. A decade later, in what we can tell of these performances, little or no Kinsei kiseki kō, he adopted a more scholarly stance, allusion was made to Itchō’s authorship; Asazuma placing the motif clearly within the history of poet- boat simply functioned as a trope for a playful tryst. ry and asserting the author’s right to his new ver- Three decades later, in 1820, the motif was sion of it. Lastly, in not just one but two of his gōkan, adapted as a classic Kabuki song and dance called Kyōden appropriated the image to serve his own “Nami makura tsuki no Asazuma” (Asazuma Moon: fictional purposes, overturning the submissiveness A Pillow of Waves) by the aforementioned Sakurada of the Asazuma boat lady in the process. In taking Jisuke II, and put to music by Kineya Sakichi, for a away the overlay of rumor that she was a parody of performance that starred Bandō Mitsugorō III Oden, he was left with only a yūjo, one who could (1775–1831).43 Verbally a deep pool of poetic allu- be empowered, ironically, in her reincarnation as a sions, the second stanza quotes Michikatsu’s Asa- low-ranking funamanjū. zuma song; mentions Risan, the mountain near the In Kakuchū chōji and E-kyōdai, Kyōden does not location where the Tang emperor courted Yang explicitly explain that the Asazuma-boat motif is Guifei; and then cites Itchō’s song. The only sub- the legendary reason for Itchō’s exile, although his versive connotation that can be gleaned from this use of Itchō’s name in the former shows that he stanza is embedded in the combined mention of the must have known about it. The same legend indi- emperor’s concubine with the partial quotation rectly adds a subversive connotation to the narra- from Itchō’s song. The entire performance was po- tives of Kyōden’s later gōkan. Kyōden asserts Itchō’s etically linked by the familiar conceit of “moon, authorship of the song in Kinsei kiseki kō, but in his snow, and flower,” with the Asazuma-boat motif light, playful works, he easily appropriates the mo- falling under the category of moon. tif to his own ends. Actor prints of this popular performance were produced. (As the name for the genre suggests, the actor is given prominence in this medium; second- On the Kabuki Stage arily acknowledged is the artist.) A rendering of the and in Ukiyo-e performance by the famous Utagawa Toyokuni (1769–1825) was available to fans for one sen (one- The interplay between Kabuki and ukiyo-e has al- hundredth of a yen) at ukiyo-e shops, or perhaps at ways been strong. The Asazuma-boat motif appeared a concession stand inside the theater (fig. 87). Here only to a limited extent in publicly accessible popular the elongated head, a mark of the Utagawa style, performances of Kabuki before the Kansei Reforms well describes the actor, Bandō Mitsugorō. Shown (and apparently not at all during the reforms), but in the typical three-quarter view, he gazes to his then emerged to become a more common element right, toward the distant horizon. His left sleeve, of from about 1820 onward. It also seems to have estab- rich green brocade, is flung behind his head, form- lished itself as a minor motif in the publicly available ing a semicircular frame behind his face. With his form of ukiyo-e in the early nineteenth century. right knee pulled upward, he is poised for action.

225 the life and afterlives of hanabusa itchō

87 Utagawa Toyokuni (1769–1825). “Dance of the Moon, Snow, and Flower,” print for the Kabuki dance “Nami makura tsuki no Asazuma” (Asazuma Moon: A Pillow of Waves). 1820. Wood- block print; ink and color on paper. Performing Arts Library, National Theatre of Japan.

226 gossip afloat

Little is delicate in this rendering. Although his with slightly different characters used for the fami- hands are hidden, as was typical of an onnagata (fe- ly name. (Such disguised names were common- male impersonator), his build is square and broad place in Kabuki, which was not allowed to depict beneath the fabric. The boat floats on waves that current events.) The intricate revenge plot is set are especially rough. Beside the moon appear the among townspeople rather than officials of the sho- main words of the print’s title: “The dance of the gunate, and depends on a number of contrivances; moon, snow, and flower.” In this color “brocade for example, a golden duck is stolen from Issen, print” (nishiki-e), the charisma of the actor ema- who manages to recover it in the course of the play. nates from the elaborateness of his costume. The While Itchō is made a character in the play, the conventional poetic linkage to the moon found in role of the Asazuma boat is indirect and entirely the Kabuki dance performances here becomes a visual. Although the motif is not mentioned in the feature in ukiyo-e, as it will largely remain. script, two references to it are made in the poster In an entirely different vein, in 1819, just a year (tsuji banzuke) that advertised the coming play on before Jisuke’s classic song and dance, the foremost street corners (fig. 88). The first of these references Kabuki dramatist, Tsuruya Nanboku IV (1755– is quite noticeable. Prominently displayed in the 1829), inserted Itchō into an oie sōdō drama, Ume ni foreground of the main picture is the Asazuma yanagi wakaba no Kaga zome (The Fresh Willow boat, identified by its orientation, the overarching and Plum Tainted by Kaga). An advertisement for willow, and the lady in an eboshi, here seated in the the performance, illustrated with the Asazuma bow, with her drum inexplicably floating in the wa- boat, makes reference to Itchō.44 ter. A viewer who knew the legend of Itchō’s depic- In a twist not unusual for Kabuki, the play is not tion of Oden and Tsunayoshi in the Asazuma boat about the Kaga rebellion of the late sixteenth cen- would recognize the shogun as the male poling the tury, as its title suggests, but rather concerns the boat in striped hakama. Following this same logic Yanagisawa revolt of Tsunayoshi’s time. During the gained from knowledge of popular rumor, the man course of the eighteenth century, many stories and seated in the middle of the boat in luxurious attire rumors competed with Oden’s tale as indications of would be recognized as Tsunayoshi’s supposedly the profligacy of the shogun Tsunayoshi. One such corrupt advisor Yanagisawa Yoshiyasu. Tsunay- story concerned another lady, Osame, a prominent oshi, with the gazes of the others fixed upon him, is character in the legend of the Yanagisawa revolt.45 at the crux of this lampoon. Yet the box upon which In the story, the aforementioned samurai Yanagi- the seated advisor leans is marked “Yanagibashi”— sawa Yoshiyasu, Tsunayoshi’s advisor, is the main another reference to the minister and also the name figure of blame. With Yanagisawa’s encourage- of a bridge on one of the main routes to the pleasure ment, his wife, Osame, becomes intimate with Tsu- quarters. Subsumed into the context of the Yanagi- nayoshi. When she conceives a boy, Yanagisawa sawa revolt, the lady in the boat is no longer Oden and Osame plot to have Tsunayoshi adopt the child but Osame. Much less evidently, the Asazuma boat as his heir. The plot culminates in resistance by is referenced again, this time in writing, at the bot- some of the retainers against Tsunayoshi, resulting tom of the poster. Kabuki posters of this sort listed in the shogun’s suicide. Despite a complete lack of the actual roles performed, and the actors who basis in fact, this story was fueled by the sudden played them; after this roster was a listing of “blank” death of Tsunayoshi. roles, or roles not actually performed by the actors The basic plot of Nanboku’s play follows this credited to them (the greater the number, the high- story, and the drama contains characters with dis- er the actor’s status). The blank role of Asazuma, guised names based on the shogun Tsunayoshi, incorporating the usual characters for Asazuma, Yanagisawa Yoshiyasu, and Osame. Moreover, one can be found within the list (eighth from the left). of the characters is based on Itchō: Hanabusa Issen, Yanagisawa Yoshiyasu may have been all the

227 the life and afterlives of hanabusa itchō

88 Poster (tsuji banzuke) for the Kabuki play Ume ni yanagi wakaba no Kaga zome (The Fresh Willow and Plum Tainted by Kaga) by Tsuruya Nanboku IV (1755–1829). 1819. Woodblock print; ink on paper. Tsubouchi Memorial Theatre Mu- seum, Waseda University. more readily recognized in this Kabuki poster be- mation during the Meiji period. With the downfall cause, in recent decades, the aforementioned sen- of the Tokugawa shogunate and subsequent resto- ior counselor Tanuma Okitsugu, whose lax policies ration of the Meiji emperor to power, the subver- had allowed Edo culture to thrive for sixteen years, sive political allusions that had only been hinted at was perceived as Yanagisawa’s historical parallel. in Kabuki became overt. Just eight years after the The fact that this play could be produced in Edo a Meiji Restoration, in 1875, the most famous Kabuki generation later demonstrates how popular cul- playwright of the latter half of the nineteenth cen- ture continued to test the bounds of censorship. tury, Kawatake Mokuami (1816–93), made the Asa- Like the appearance of the Asazuma boat on the zuma-boat motif a key element in his play Ura- poster, the disguised presence of Itchō in this story omote yanagi no uchiwa-e (The Front and Back of (in which he played no historical part) shows how the Willow Painting on the Fan). He even linked the his name and this motif were becoming veiled name Taga Chōko to the motif as its originator, as signs of transgression. Kyōden had done in his kibyōshi in 1785. The play The Asazuma-boat motif underwent a transfor- proved immensely popular with the public and en-

228 gossip afloat joyed repeat performances.46 Yet this Mokuami play is far from a simple political allegory. If the Nanboku play contains shattered pieces of a mirror reflecting bits of social satire, then the Mokuami play has taken these splinters and patched them to- gether with numerous others to make a mosaic that reflects rumors with many different distortions. In Ura-omote yanagi no uchiwa-e, the world (sekai) is split into a “back” (ura) of lords and ladies of the past and a “front” (omote) of present-day townspeople, as was common in Kabuki at the time. In this way, events unfold in layers. The basic drama, derived from the anonymous manuscript Gokoku onna taiheiki (Protecting the Realm: The Women’s Taiheiki), is once more about an intrigue over succession. The characters equivalent to Osa- me and Yanagisawa (in both the front and back worlds) try to gain position and wealth through an affair and the conception of an illegitimate child with the shogun. The plot, which involves both omote and ura versions of Tsunayoshi, Yanagisawa, and Osame, ultimately results in the death of the shogun and his lady. Although Itchō is not a charac- ter (as he was in the Nanboku play), Taga Chōko is the focus of discussion in several scenes as the no- torious painter of Asazuma Boat. A page from the illustrated playbill from the 1875 performance depicts the ura realm of the past at the top, and the townspeople’s omote world at the bottom (fig. 89). As the cloudlike bubble ema- nating from the woman seated in the house indi- 89 Kabuki playbill (e-banzuke) for Ura-omote yanagi no cates, the scene that includes the Asazuma boat is uchiwa-e (The Front and Back of the Willow Painting distanced as merely a dream. In the dream, Osame on the Fan) by Kawatake Mokuami (1816–93). 1875. is seated in the boat, flanked by Tsunayoshi, who Woodblock print; ink on paper. Tsubouchi Memorial poles it, and Yanagisawa, at whom she casts a Theatre Museum, Waseda University. knowing glance. Ohara maidens dance on the shore to the left (a performance within the perfor- mance), while in the background someone beats a ukiyo-e shops for one sen per sheet.47 When the dog. Within the play, this reference to Tsunayoshi’s play was produced again eight years later, in 1883, hated Laws of Compassion turns out to be merely he portrayed it once more (fig. 90). As was usual in a performance as well. these prints, Kunichika shows the penultimate mie Toyohara Kunichika (1835–1900), a member of (frozen-moment) pose when Tsunayoshi locks the Utagawa school who specialized in actor prints rolled-eyed gazes with Osame. Yanagisawa, the evil during the Meiji period, depicted the debut of this minister caught up in his ambitions, watches a Kabuki performance in a triptych that was sold in swallow dive over the water. The deep-red hue pop-

229 the life and afterlives of hanabusa itchō

90 Toyohara Kunichika (1835–1900). Ura-omote yanagi no uchiwa-e (The Front and Back of the Willow Painting on the Fan). 1883. Triptych of nishiki-e (full color) woodblock prints; ink and color on paper. Performing Arts Library, National Theatre of Japan. ular in Meiji prints here brings out the purple of ter the debut of the Mokuami drama, Kunichika Tsunayoshi’s kerchief, the gold of the eboshi, and the chose to submit Asazuma Boat (Asazuma-bune) as his blue of Yanagisawa’s shaven pate, intensifying the entry for the Domestic Industrial Exposition (Nai- atmosphere of intrigue. The rough trunk of the tree koku Kangyō Hakurankai) of 1877 (fig. 91).48 Pro- and a few dangling branches are all that is shown of duced in the unusually large ō-ōban size, the print is the willow. Likewise the Asazuma boat, as if ab- splendid in its generous application of metallic pig- sorbed into the drama as a sign of illicit political ment. Dressed in an exquisite green robe over red scheming, is barely indicated between the figures. hakama, the boat lady wears a purple scarf that sug- About a century before, the Asazuma boat had gestively emerges from between her legs as she raises provided no more than a site for a playful tryst in a a knee as if about to rise. The boat is carpeted with a Kabuki dance. Originally occupied by just one red fabric ornamented with gold. The fronds of a wil- yūjo—whether dressed simply, as in Itchō’s origi- low descend into the frame, and reeds peek out just nal, or sumptuously, as in Toyokuni’s version—the under its trunk, which passes diagonally through the boat gained a shogun and his minister as the Meiji picture. A mountain, suggestive of Mount Tsukuba period got underway, and was available for pur- because of its double-crested shape—thus rising chase by the Kabuki-loving public. Flanked by these above Yoshiwara, not Asazuma—dominates the two men, the Asazuma boat lady still stands both background with a golden mist at its base. With so for the yūjo of the past and the corruptive potential much gold in the picture, the lady’s eboshi is black, of women’s sexuality, but the legend of Itchō has echoing the angle of the thick branch above. In this transformed her into a sign of the hidden corrup- context especially, the ukiyo-e medium has loosened tion in the Tokugawa regime. its ties to Kabuki, and considering the debates raging In the Meiji period, a depiction of the Asazuma at the time to define the fine arts (bijutsu) in contrast boat was chosen to represent the legacy of the Uta- to crafts (geijutsu), the picture becomes a beautified, gawa school to the new nation. A couple of years af- nostalgic gesture toward the recent past.

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How did Itchō’s name remain so closely linked to his quite a bit about the developing public conception of Asazuma Boat in the course of the Edo period that the artist. Whether or not Bunkō first heard Itchō’s everyone seemed to know that the painting was the tale in the same way that he told and wrote it, he cause of his exile (even if this was false)? The cir- wanted to believe that a specific reason existed for cumstance almost seems accidental. Even if Itchō Itchō’s exile, and that the reason could be reduced to claims in the extant version that he drew the picture, an act by the painter. Bunkō’s audience and later composed the song, and brushed the inscription readership wanted to believe this, too. The popular- himself, this album leaf and other versions were too ity of the painting was fueled by its entanglement in little known to have stopped the motif from being the idea that it was created by an artist-rebel, an idea absorbed anonymously into the vernacular. If it that dovetailed with, and probably helped perpetu- were not for Bunkō and Kyōden, Itchō’s connection ate, emerging Early-Modern ideas about the role of to the work might have been forgotten. the artist and his work. Most closely related to the The false rumor that Asazuma Boat was a parody Early-Modern conception of creation, however, was and the cause of Itchō’s exile might not seem to say the idea that the power of the artist resided in his much about the nature of authorship as it emerged ability to use the power of metaphor, or (in this case) in the Edo period. But in fact, as a reflection of how the twisted metaphor of satire. Itchō was received or understood, the story tells us Kyōden, in his exegesis of Asazuma Boat in Kin-

91 Toyohara Kunichika (1835–1900). Asazuma Boat. 1877. Woodblock print; gold and silver dust with ink and color on paper. Private Collection.

231 the life and afterlives of hanabusa itchō sei kiseki kō, defends and delimits Itchō’s author- the motif as a symbol in his own fiction, Kyōden ex- ship, something of particular concern to him as a plored all sides of authorship, revealing his con- popular author who wanted to defend his own copy. sciousness of the ironies of the author’s place in a He interprets the Asazuma-boat motif within the society. flow of tradition, and relates it to Itchō’s life. Yet Kabuki took up the Asazuma boat as a symbol just a little later, in his light, playful works, he ex- of Itchō’s subversive act against the polity in the ploits the motif to draw out its latent meanings. By way that Bunkō had framed it, yet depictions of the comparing her to a manzai performer in E-kyōdai, boat evolved to transform the shogun-concubine Kyōden reveals the Asazuma boat lady (and the pair into a more complicated triangular target of yūjo in general) to be an all-encompassing econom- satire by adding a hated advisor. Because real politi- ic metaphor, her life not unlike that of an artist or cal power was no longer in the hands of the shogun any other entrepreneur who must prostitute him- by the nineteenth century, this transformation re- self to the public. Then, in his later gōkan, he con- flected the way in which the current power struc- verts the weak Asazuma boat lady, whom he had ture was perceived. What is most interesting, how- characterized as a victim of circumstance in Kinsei ever, is the fact that different Kabuki plays kiseki kō, into an empowered common prostitute. separately reference both the Asazuma boat and Asserting Itchō’s originality while appropriating Itchō without overtly making a link between them,

92 Watanabe Seitei (Shōtei, 1851–1918). Asazuma Boat. Late 19th century. Hanging scroll; ink and colors on silk. 46 x 69 cm. Santa Barbara Museum of Art.

232 gossip afloat yet still use Itchō to signal artistic subversiveness a weeping willow, her attendant by her side. She worthy of punishment. gazes out over the water, with a full moon above In its simplicity, the Asazuma-boat motif con- and grasses at the banks below, her sleeve raised to tains much latent power. In the best of the Edo-pe- her mouth in a classic gesture of veiled emotions. riod examples, the yūjo of Asazuma is a multivocal Like many successful artists of his age, Seitei also symbol. In Kunichika’s Meiji-period masterpiece, illustrated popular romantic stories, and these illus- the Asazuma boat lady, who also symbolizes the trations reveal a fashionable modern beauty. In this yūjo of Yoshiwara, embodies just as many latent verdant scene, a strong whiff of nostalgia for the re- meanings, only now the motif is also a reminder of mote past is balanced with a face representative of a lost delusions of the bygone shogunal age. typical Meiji beauty. The legend that ascribed Itchō’s exile to Asazu- This sense of nostalgia, slightly tinged with ma Boat reveals the power of public discourse con- scandal, was most prevalent up to about 1900 in cerning artists. What mattered was not whether an Japan. Seitei, an artist who mixed Eastern and artist had actually been punished for subversive Western visual approaches in order to ultimately acts of creativity, but the extent to which this was achieve greater success in the West, almost certain- believed to be true. Aside from those artists already ly had his Japanese contemporaries in mind when mentioned—Bunkō, Sukenobu, Kyōden—many he painted this work, which recently made its way others had brushes with the authorities over “slips to an American museum.49 As had happened with of the pen.” It would almost seem that, by the nine- the Asazuma-boat motif elsewhere outside Japan, teenth century, artists invited censure. despite the title Asazuma Boat (Asazuma-bune) on Around the turn of the twentieth century, Wata- its box, the painting was initially misrecognized, nabe Seitei (also called Shōtei, 1851–1918), a painter and when first exhibited was described much more and illustrator best known for his lush works in the broadly as an image of a shirabyōshi dancer. The bird-and-flower genre, executed a variant of the gossip that has bestowed the utmost significance Asazuma-boat motif (fig. 92). Attired in the dress on this painting by linking it to the names Asazuma of an ancient court entertainer with her lap drum Boat and Hanabusa Itchō was too complicated, and set between her legs in red hakama, the subject of certainly not relevant enough, to have spread in the the painting sits framed under the limp branches of United States.

233 notes to pages 00–00

39 See Nihon kokugo daijiten, vol. 6, p. 344. third work has a certificate from the Monbushō desig- 40 The meaning of ki as used in Kinsei kijin-den is analyzed nating it a jūyō bijutsuhin. The early catalogues of these by Takeuchi, Taiga’s True Views, pp. 123–24. works are frustratingly difficult to use, listing works by 41 See Hay, Shitao, pp. 21–23, for a parallel phenomenon in location and owner rather than by genre. Further China. detailed research needs to be done on the workings 42 The authorship of Ukiyo-e ruikō is often too simply behind these designations and the institutional changes attributed to Ōta Nanpo. For the most thorough exami- that resulted in works such as these being dropped from nation of the variants of this book, see Yura, “Ukiyo-e the official rankings. ruikō seiritsu shi.” See also the explanation of Ukiyo-e 56 See Hōchi Shinbunsha, Kokuhō jūyō bijutsuhin kaiga. ruikō published in the supplement (furoku) to Nihon zui- 57 When the system changed in 1955, all of the works that hitsu taisei, ser. 2, vol. 11, pp. 1–4. The difficult task of had been designated as National Treasures automati- sorting out the editions of this important work has only cally became Important Cultural Properties, while recently begun. Important Artworks lost their ranking. New National 43 Ōta Nanpo et al., comps., Shin zōho ukiyo-e ruikō, sup- Treasures were then chosen from the pool of Important plement, p. 4. Cultural Properties. Guth, “Kokuhō,” has begun to 44 Yura, “Ukiyo-e ruikō seiritsu shi,” pp. 326–27. raise the issues involved. 45 “Shiki e-batsu,” IKS, no. 22, p. 50. 58 See Kinoshita, “Nihon kindai ni okeru bijutsu-shi 46 See Beasley and Pulleyblank, eds., Historians of China kijutsu no kigen.” and Japan, p. 264, for explanation of this type of scholar- 59 Earlier nineteenth-century writers were much less ship in Japan. direct in their refutation of such legend. 47 This scrapbook analogy is featured in Kudō, Edo bunjin 60 See Fujioka, “Oryū gekō,” in Kinsei kaiga shi, pp. 81–101, no sukurappubukku. especially p. 97. 48 Kokusho jinmei jiten, vol. 1, p. 131. The most accurate ver- 61 Kyokutei Bakin (1767–1848) was the best-known author sion of the manuscript is at Tokyo Geijutsu Daigaku of fiction criticism, for example. (Tokyo University of Fine Arts and Music). Some of it is 62 “Gajin shoden: Hanabusa Itchō.” reproduced in Musashino Art University Museum and 63 Otsuhane, “Genroku fūzoku to Hanabusa Itchō.” Library, Goyō eshi no shigoto to Kii Kano-ke, p. 19. 64 Hashimoto Gahō, “Kobikichō edokoro,” p. 19. Tamamushi Satoko and her circle have been studying 65 Nakamachi touches on the making of the Rinpa school the manuscript. in her “Yomigaeru Rinpa.” 49 Koga bikō, pp. 474–77. 66 Furukawa, “Kōrin to Itchō.” 50 For an analysis of the top-down changes brought about 67 Nakamura, “Hanabusa Itchō to Ogata Kōrin,” “Itchō to by the Meiji regime, see Satō, “Nihon bijutsu” tanjō and Kōrin,” and “Genroku jidai no nimeishō.” Meiji kokka to kindai bijutsu. 68 Ōkubo, “Kōrin to Itchō.” 51 For a brief description of this multiphased process, see the entry for “Kokuhō” in Nihon bijutsushi jiten, pp. 318– Chapter 7 19. Also see Guth, “Kokuhō.” 1 See Ichikawa, “Umezawa Kinenkan zō ‘Daruma-zu’ ni 52 See Smith, “Expanding the Nineteenth-Century of Jap- miru zenso,” p. 152. Daruma is the Japanese name for anese Art,” for a discussion of how the idea that art and Bodhidharma, a monk from ancient India or Central art history began with the Meiji period needs to be Asia who brought Chan (Zen) Buddhism to China. revised. Regarded as the first Chinese patriarch of the Chan 53 This essay by Gonze, “Kōrin,” mentions “Ittsho” (sic) sect, he became a popular figure in Chinese and Japa- several times as Kōrin’s contemporary. The “Descrip- nese art and folk culture. tion of the Plates” for the illustration (fig. 75 here), how- 2 See, for example, Miyakawa Seiun, “Zokuji hyakkō ever, compares Itchō to Moronobu, “whose rival he kigen,” pp. 92–93. was; but while Moronobu worked almost exclusively for 3 See Shimauchi, “Hanabusa Itchō no ‘Asazuma-bune’ book illustration, Itchō had no desire to multiply his danatsu,” for a study that stresses how the public inter- productions.” Bing, Artistic Japan vol. 3, p. 192. preted the motif to indicate a close, untoward intimacy 54 Fenollosa, Epochs of Chinese and Japanese Art, pp. 126– between Tsunayoshi and his advisor. 39, especially p. 127. 4 The indisputability of this example is noted by Naka- 55 These works were The Scarf Dance, the pair of folding mura Tanio in Hanabusa Itchō (1984), p. 84. screens Four Accomplishments, and the triptych of hang- 5 This branch of the Tokugawa family was established by ing scrolls now known as Aridōshi. I found these first Yoshimune, the eighth Tokugawa shogun, in 1735. two works listed in Shōkasha, ed., Monbushō nintei jūyō 6 Other versions of the mitate of the four sleepers, Mount bijutsuhin mokuroku, nos. 9 and 32, respectively. The Fuji, and several other images found within this same

249 notes to pages 00–00

album are extant. Shelter from the Rain (Amayadori) and 19 See the background description for the most recent per- All in the Same Boat (Noriaibune) were two popular formance of Asazuma Boat as a Kabuki dance at works that Itchō and others particularly repeated. See Tokyo’s Kabuki-za in February 2003, for example. Chapter 1. 20 For one early-twentieth-century source crediting the 7 See the entry for “Asazuma-bune” in NDDD, vol. 1, pp. motif to Itchō, see Shisōsei, “Hanabusa Itchō.” See also 26–27. See also Kitamura, “Omi keizai shi ronkō,” p. 79. Takigawa, Eguchi, Kanzaki, p. 262. 8 At least one scholar seems certain that the earliest 21 See Furuido, Buyō techō, pp. 16–17; and the entry for the poem that features the Asazuma boat, a twelfth-century first day of the eleventh month of An’ei 4 (1775), detail- poem by Saigyō in Sankashū, refers neither to these ing a performance at Edo’s Morita-za, in Kabuki ladies nor to the ferry. The explanatory note for this nenpyō, vol. 5, pp. 270–73. poem (5/7998) in Kazamaki et al., eds., Sankashū; 22 At least three different versions of this work exist, one Kinkai wakashū, p. 175, describes the boat as a fishing in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; one in Chicago; boat, whereas Kubōta, in his entry “Asazuma Boat” in and one in the Guimet collection. One is published in Utakotoba utamakura daijiten, p. 32, describes the boats Genshoku ukiyo-e daihyakka jiten, vol. 4, p. 12. as carrying lumber. Only in the sixteenth to seventeenth 23 Chiba City Museum of Art’s Suzuki Harunobu concen- centuries do the poems seem to refer conclusively to trated on the influence of Noh and other types of per- boat-lady entertainers. For example, in Kōyō wakashū formance on the artist’s work. by Karasumaru Mitsuhiro (d. 1638), an Asazuma-boat 24 This rendering varies from the Itchō and Matsu no ha poem appears under the title “Kiyūjo koi” (Love of a versions by the lack of repetition of kawashite iro o Wild Prostitute). Additionally, as discussed later in this (share my charms). Given Kyōden’s concern for accu- chapter, according to Santō Kyōden in Kinsei kiseki kō, racy in this text, his imprecision here is notable. Nakanoin (Yasokuken) Michikatsu had a poem with the 25 I have not yet been able to trace this archive. Kyōden’s title “Woman Entertainer in a Boat” (Shūchū gijo). search for an accurate copy makes it seem as if not 9 See, for example, the beginning of Dōbō goen ihon, many versions could be seen at the time. which was written while Itchō was still living. Ishizaki, 26 Fancy brackets indicate where comments were added to Yoshiwara Yoshiwara, pp. 29–48, provides lengthy notes the original in reduced script. on this text. 27 Roppyaku-ban utaawase was a poetry contest that took 10 This novel was translated into English by Kengi Ham- place in 1193 at the mansion of Fujiwara no Yoshitsune. ada in 1964 with the title The Life of an Amorous Man, a 28 Shōbikin is a haikai compilation edited by Kikaku. translation that unfortunately gives little attention to 29 I have not found this song in collections of Ryūtatsu’s detail and accuracy. works. 11 My translation was aided considerably by Maeda 30 See Imaizumi, Gogenshū no kenkyū, pp. 328–29, 674–76. Kingorō’s notes in Koshoku ichidai otoko zen chūshaku, 31 Annotated text and illustrations are found in Mizuno, vol. 2, pp. 155–57. ed., Santō Kyōden no kibyōshi. Kakuchū chōji is also 12 In contrast, note the seventeenth-century painting of reprinted in Mori, ed., Kibyōshi kaidai, pp. 256–62. Eguchi at Jakkōji, published in Suntory Museum of Art, 32 Mizuno, ed., Santō Kyōden no kibyōshi, p. 90. The motif Josei no yakudōbi, p. 70. of this couple within the boat was printed on the cover 13 Personal communication with Onishi Hiroshi, Decem- to the second volume of this book. See ibid., p. 81. ber, 2004. 33 Other than Furuido using it as a source in his dance 14 For example, Moronobu’s paintings were not signed, handbook (Buyō techō, pp. 193–94), I have not seen sec- nor were the Bugaku Dances screens at Rinshōji, even ondary reference to E-kyōdai. though they must have been done by one of the highest 34 According to Inagaki, Edo no asobi-e, p. 196, the term of Kanō artists. See my “The Daimyo Commission of kyōga was seen as synonymous with giga by Kuniyoshi’s Hanabusa Itchō’s ‘Bugaku Dancers.’” time. 15 Lippit, “The Surrogate Signature in Seventeenth-Cen- 35 See NDDD, p. 453. tury Japan,” treats the issue of signatures. 36 See Clark, “Utamaro and Yoshiwara,” p. 37, on an 16 See Chapter 3. inscription to a courtesan print that reveals that 17 For instance, a record attests that Sōmin engraved a “Utamaro has no doubts about the commodity value of knife handle (kozuka) with the same design. Kitamura his own talents and evidences few qualms about the Intei, in “Intei zatsuroku,” p. 125, notes and depicts the hierarchy of prostitution.” Asazuma-boat kozuka by Sōmin. 37 I referred to the Kaga Bunkō edition as well as the pub- 18 The painting featured in this catalogue is also listed in lished version in Santō Kyōden, Santō Kyōden zenshū, Kanai Shiun’s iconographical dictionary, Tōyō gadai vol. 8, pp. 271–325. sōran. 38 The preface begins by quoting the Itchō headnote and

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song, again within a folding screen that recalls Itchō’s Epilogue depiction. Ibid., pp. 272, 319. 1 Ukiyo-e in itself was not recognized as a subfield of Japa- 39 This reference to theater, taken with the title, causes me nese art history in Japan until the 1960s. In the field of art to wonder if any theater performances of “Asazuma- history, as a rule, the ga has been favored over the zoku. bune” took place between 1790 and 1819. 2 For a consideration of the Meiji category of fūzoku (out- 40 The breakdown in the division between genres is dis- side of art history), see O’Brien, “‘Custom-izing’ Daily cussed in Hattori et al., eds., Kabuki no rekishi, pp. 281– Life in Meiji Japan.” A recent book that addresses some 85; even the playwright Nanboku wrote gōkan novels. of the problems within Japanese art history is Matsu- 41 A fascinating collaborative painting by Hokusai and moto, Idemitsu, and Princess Akiko, eds., Fūzoku kaiga Ōta Nanpo parodies Itchō’s Asazuma Boat, making their no bunkagaku II. boat lady a contemporary yūjo. John Carpenter’s exege- 3 See the notice in Marumaru chinbun, no. 917 (1893), in sis of this painting is quite suggestive of the preoccupa- Marumaru chinbun, vol. 29, p. 247. See also Duus, tion with Itchō and this motif that existed at the start of “Marumaru Chinbun and the Origins of the Japanese the nineteenth century. See Calza, Hokusai, p. 158, no. Political Cartoon.” III 45, with explanation on p. 443. 4 Shimizu, Nihon kindai manga no tanjō; and Miyamoto, 42 See Furuido’s entry for “Asazuma-bune” in his Buyō “‘Manga’: Gainen no jūsōka katei,” are among the few techō, p. 16, for a summary of the Asazuma boat in reliable secondary sources to date that attempt to trace Kabuki dance. the modern etymology of manga. Imaizumi Ippyō 43 For a brief explanation and transcription of this song, (1865–1905) was the first to use the term manga for see Gunji, “Asazuma-bune.” satirical cartoons in 1890. Okamoto Ippei (1886–1948), 44 See Fujio, “Kaisetsu: Ume ni yanagi wakaba no Kaga who headed a manga circle from 1915, defined manga zome,” for a discussion of this play. broadly as “pictures of the people” (minshū no ga), and 45 An earlier play that concerned this rebellion was Keisei included Itchō in the manga lineage in his Shin manga yanagi sakura (Willow and Cherry Blossoms of Keisei), no kakikata. originally produced in Osaka in 1793. See NKBD, vol. 2, 5 The motif is a consequence of intermediality in the p. 359, for a discussion of this play, which does not seem sense that the intervisual has been variously offered as a to make any reference to Itchō or the Asazuma boat. counterpart to Kristeva’s intertextual. See Kristeva, For a good explanation of the Yanagisawa revolt, see “Revolution in Poetic Language” and “Word, Dialogue NDDD, p. 903. A legend about the revolt was dissemi- and Novel”; Hay, Shitao, p. 229; and Moerman, “Dying nated in the book Gokoku onna taiheiki (Protecting the Like the Buddha,” p. 25. Realm: The Women’s Taiheiki). Kaionji Kōgorō rewrote 6 In particular, see the work of Ichikawa Kōta, Ida Tarō, the legend of the Yanagisawa revolt as modern histori- Ikeda Fumi, and Sasaki Eriko. cal fiction in “Yanagisawa Sōdō.” 7 Clark et al., The Dawn of the Floating World, p. 159. 46 The play is published in Kawatake, Mokuami zenshū, 8 See Mitamura, “‘Asazuma-bune’ ni okeru go no maru vol. 11, pp. 1–306. dono;” and Konta, Edo no kinsho. 47 The first version of this triptych by Kunichika can be 9 Megumi Ono, curator at the Toyama Memorial found as a frontispiece illustration in ibid. Museum of Art (where the painting is held), mentioned 48 Personal communication from Koketsu Kimio, Presi- to me that she often receives requests for permission to dent of Ohya Shobo Co., Ltd., the establishment that publish this work in textbooks. This painting is one of now owns the Kunichika print displayed at the Domes- the images used most widely to represent Itchō in art- tic Exhibition. history surveys as well. 49 See Satō, “Watanabe Shōtei ga naze Obeijin ni komare- 10 The Scarf Dance is reproduced in Kobayashi, NB 260, p. taka?” It is tempting to try to link Seitei’s Asazuma Boat 2, for one example. with the minor scandal that he provoked in 1889, when 11 The painting is reproduced in the catalogue of this exhi- he illustrated Yamada Bimyō’s story “Kōchō” (Butterfly) bition, with an entry by Barbara Ford; see High with a nude in the periodical Kokumin no tomo (no. 37). Museum of Art, Rings: Five Passions in World Art, pp. 316–17. 12 The third work is Mitate of the Four Accomplishments at the Chado Research Center Galleries in Kyoto (fig. 47). 13 Benjamin, “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction.”

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