Kuniyoshi+Takiyashi+the+Witch

//"Takiyasha the Witch"// by Utagawa Kuniyoshi


 * Title: Sōma no ko dairi** 相馬の古内裏（The Ancient Palace of Soma) - //Takiyasha the Witch / Princess Takiyasha and the Skeleton Spectre//
 * Artist:** Utagawa Kuniyoshi (歌川国芳)
 * Origin:** Japan
 * Date:** Edo period ~ 1844
 * Medium:**Triptych woodblock print on paper
 * Dimensions:** (each sheet) 37 cm x 25cm


 * Introduction:** This triptych woodblock print depicting the legend of Takiyasha 滝夜叉 summoning a skeleton spectre to defend the remains of her father's palace from Mitsukuni 光国. It was produced in the Edo period, in the mid 1800's by well known wood block print-maker and painter Utagawa Kuniyoshi.


 * Artist:** Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1797-1861) was a master of the ukiyo-e style of Japanese wood block prints. He is known for his landscapes, warrior, and kabuki scene/figure depictions. (Ukiyo-e - literally "images of the floating world - prints and paintings were those depicting scenes of seemingly floating landscapes, mythology, history, scenes of history, and legend.) Originally named Yoshisaburō, he showed interest in art and talent at an early age, assisting his father who was a silk worker. He studied under the print master Utagawa Toyokuni. Though his career had a somewhat promising start, it is his later works, like this one, from which he derived most of his reputation and fame.(source of info)


 * Subject:** The subject of the triptych image is the daughter of a provincial warlord who in story tried to set up a court in Shimosa province (modern day Chiba prefecture) that would compete with the emperor in Kyoto. When he failed and was killed, his daughter Takiyasha, remained in the fallen palace. The image shown is the part of the legend when the emperor's delegation comes searching for any surviving conspirators. Takiyasha reads from a scroll to summon a a giant skeleton from the ground to destroy the intruders. This was a legend depicted in Kabuki - a subject from which Utagawa often created from.


 * Detail:** The piece is done in a triptych - each panel holding one large element of the story from the princess on the left, the intruding delegates cowering before the skeleton's skull in the center, and the skeleton's larger-than-life body rising out of the ground on the right. Each of the story's depicted characters is name-marked by the red tags. This skeleton exemplifies several elements of Kuniyoshi's style, experimentation with the exaggerated size, as well as the influence that viewing western paintings had given him - the anatomical accuracy in the skeleton influenced by western prints/medical texts that Kuniyoshi had collected.

The small script at the top left corner of the left triptych panel is a short description of the narrative scene depicted.


 * Sources:**

http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/asia/u/utagawa_kuniyoshi,_princess_ta.aspx

http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/がしゃどくろ (Giant skeleton Gashadokuro がしゃどくろ)

http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/歌川国芳

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