Japanese Print By Yoshitoshi: The Bottom Of The Bucket

The bottom of the bucket filled by Lady Chiyo has fallen the moon no longer has its place in the water
Chiyodono ga | itadaku oke no | soko nukete misu tamari tewa | tsuki mo yadorazu
n°74 From the sequel: Tsuki No hyakushi (The Hundred Aspects of the Moon)
1889
Publisher: Akiyama Buemon (Kokkeido)
Seal: Taiso
Engraver: Enkatsu
Oban nishiki-e
Beautiful impression with embossing, beautiful colors, some folds and a slight dusting in the upper border, some tiny foxing.

"The poet Chiyo was born in 1703 in Kaga Province. The daughter of an art framer, she studied painting and calligraphy with local masters; some of her works have survived. She began composing haikus at the age of fifteen, and was soon noticed by Shikõ, a master in the field, who made her his disciple. We know that she subsequently received visits from many great poets, and acquired a great reputation before becoming a nun in 1754. Her most famous poem speaks of a bucket. Having come to fetch water from her well early in the morning, she notices that a climbing plant has launched its tendrils in an attack on the rope during the night. It is an asagao, literally "face of the morning", or a bindweed or morning glory. To save the flowers, she goes to her neighbor, and composed the haiku: asagao ni tsurube torarete moraimizu the bindweed has taken hold of my bucket so I ask for water. It is in reference to this anecdote that the asagao, widely used as an ornamental plant, is often planted in a bucket. These are therefore the associations of ideas on which the poem given in the title plays. The poem is written in the spirit of kyoka, literally "crazy verses", a humorous form of tanka that often accompanied surimono-type prints of the early 19th century. It may date from this period, unless it is due to a contemporary of Yoshitoshi - or even to Yoshitoshi himself. Chiyo's attire harks back to the early 18th century, a time when textile art reached new heights of refinement and virtuosity with the presence of numerous large and asymmetrical floral motifs, such as those worn here at mid-body. The small repetitive motifs on the top and bottom of her kimono came into fashion in the following years. Her hairstyle and the wooden geta she wears hark back to the same period. Among the susuki grasses grows a persimmon tree laden with ripe persimmons, whose pattern flatters the roundness. The combination of reeds, persimmon and chrysanthemums on the kimono indicates that this full moon is not the eighth, that of the harvest, but the ninth, at the gates of winter. If Chiyo became a nun, it was in particular to escape the restrictions imposed on women in the Edo period. After taking the tonsure, she continued to write poems sensitive to the beauties of nature and also to feminine affects. Her haikus remained famous after her death, and she is included in many painted or engraved portraits of famous poets. A charming print by Kuniyoshi shows her surrounded by flowering bindweed."
In: ONE HUNDRED ASPECTS OF THE MOON, John STEVENSON, 2018, Editions Citadelles et MAZENOD

The continuation of "One Hundred Aspects of the Moon", inspired by historical or legendary stories from China and Japan, is Yoshitoshi's most famous series, begun in 1885 and completed just before his death in 1892. Even then, each new print published was an event, with prints often selling out the morning of their publication.

Image width: 224.00
Image height: 330.00
Sheet width: 250.00
Sheet height: 373.00