Utagawa school – Asahina Saburō Yoshihide on the Island...

This lot features a black-ink sketch on two joined sheets, mounted on a light acid-free backing washi. It is attributed to the Utagawa school, most likely the circle of Utagawa Kuniyoshi. It is unsigned and has no seals. The title cartouche at upper right reads 朝夷三郎平朝臣義秀, Asahina Saburō Taira no Ason Yoshihide, with a hiragana reading alongside. Next to it is a Chinese-style praise verse (kanshi), 英聲懐絶域 勇敢鎮窮邊. Roughly: “His heroic fame is cherished in the farthest lands; his courage pacifies the remotest frontier.” On the left sheet there are further lines of cursive hiragana, apparently a short comic poem. Details Medium: ink on paper, two sheets joined at the centre Dimensions: image size for both prints [20 × 28 cm sheet; 24 × 32 cm mount] Condition: Fair condition! Please check the images carefully before bidding. The whole composition is well perserved! The subject Asahina Saburō Yoshihide was a warrior of the early Kamakura period. He was the son of Wada Yoshimori, and legend names the female warrior Tomoe Gozen as his mother. His extraordinary strength made him a folk hero. After his father died in the Wada Rebellion of 1213, Asahina disappeared from the historical record. Edo-period storytellers filled that gap with fantastic voyages to strange islands, among them an island of tiny people. The spelling 朝夷 used in the cartouche is the same one found in the title of the novel Asahina shima meguri no ki (朝夷巡島記, “Record of Asahina’s Island Voyages”). That title is also attached to an 1840s kabuki print showing Nakamura Utaemon IV as Asahina Saburō Yoshihide The island of little people was a favourite comic theme of Kuniyoshi. The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston holds his vertical ōban “Asahina Yoshihide Playing with the Little People” (Asahina Yoshihide kobito asobi), dated about 1839 and signed Ichiyūsai Kuniyoshi giga, meaning “comic picture by Kuniyoshi”. He had already treated Asahina’s foreign travels in the triptych “Kobayashi Asahina and Strange People from Foreign Lands” of about 1836, published by Maruya Seijirō. The present sheets belong to this tradition of humorous Asahina pictures (giga or kyōga)

Estimate:£125.37

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