Module 2
Painted Beauties
Watanabe Kazan,
Portrait of a Geisha. 1838. [Partial Close-up]
Image Credit:
Seikado Bunko Art Museum
Image Archives / DNPartcom.
Included here by permission.
2
Watanabe Kazan,
Portrait of a Geisha. 1838.
Image Credit:
Seikado Bunko Art Museum
Image Archives / DNPartcom.
Included here by permission.
3
(translation of Kazan’s inscription)
Each of the following men painted what he loved,
and each in turn was stimulated by the images to give
them as presents to his friends: Wen Yuke groves of
bamboo, Zheng Sixiao his orchids, Hua Guang plum
blossoms. None of us, though, really like or dislike in
exactly the same way. Wang Yan hated springs,
Ouyang Xiu detested cicadas, Mei Shan loathed the
chessboard. Even if they wanted to, how could they all
cherish the same things?
I myself prefer lotuses. No fun drinking wine
without the gentle waft of a lotus, and should I set
myself off to dreams, I could not even fall asleep ’til
the sweet scent envelops me.
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Hence what we say: that which our emotional
instincts center upon are what prompt us to display
our truest thoughts.
No man or woman born into this world without
the capacity to feel a desire to eat, drink and mingle
sexually with men or women can properly be labeled
“human”. For this reason, what I have come to love
follows the universal way of the world (tenka no
kōdō); my instincts are at one with the Masters Wen
and Zheng.
For this reason have I drawn my beloved geisha, in
order to present to Kensai (who will either share my
tastes or not).
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Recently all sorts of luxury items have been
proscribed throughout the land (tenka). My
companion, having removed the jewel combs and
golden hairpins from her hair, appears unmade-up, in
a thin gauze robe, like a fresh lotus blossom after the
rain.
Painted in jest and inscribed by Kazan, Tenth Day,
Sixth Month, 1838.
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Takahashi Yuichi, A Courtesan. 1872.
Image Credit:
The University Art Museum,
Tokyo University of The Arts.
Included here by permission.
7
Jōno Saigiku, Sparrow of the Pleasure
Quarters: Koina’s Rich Harvest. 1889.
Image Source:
Collection of
Robert Campbell
8
Kawanabe Kyōsai, The Courtesan Usugumo of the
Miura House at the age of 89. ca. 1875.
Chinese quatrain by Kanagaki Robun.
Image Source: Collection of Robert Campbell
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Kawanabe Kyōsai, The Courtesan Usugumo of the
Miura House at the age of 89. ca. 1875.
Chinese quatrain by Kanagaki Robun.
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Kawanabe Kyōsai, The Courtesan Usugumo of the
Miura House at the age of 89. ca. 1875.
Chinese quatrain by Kanagaki Robun.
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Kawanabe Kyōsai,
The Courtesan
Usugumo of the
Miura House at the
age of 89. ca. 1875.
Chinese quatrain
by Kanagaki Robun.
Image Source:
Collection of Robert Campbell
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Kawanabe Kyōsai, The Courtesan Usugumo of the
Miura House at the age of 89. ca. 1875.
Chinese quatrain by Kanagaki Robun.
13
Kawanabe Kyōsai, The Courtesan Usugumo of the
Miura House at the age of 89. ca. 1875.
Chinese quatrain by Kanagaki Robun.
14
Kitagawa Utamaro, An Important Lesson:
Parents’ Pair of Spectacles. ca. 1802.
Image Credit:
© Bilboko Arte Ederren
Museoa - Museo de
Bellas Artes de Bilbao.
Included here by permission.
15
Toyohara Kunichika, Mirror of Blossoming Human
Nature in the Era of Enlightenment: A Widow. 1878.
Image Source:
Private Collection
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Toyohara Kunichika, Mirror of Blossoming Human
Nature in the Era of Enlightenment: Studying. 1878.
Image Source:
Machida City Museum of
Graphic Arts
17
Kaneda Ikkandō, “On a Picture of a Beauty as
She Reads.” Quatrain from the Fresh Winds
Anthology (Junpū dōsha shishū). 1860.
This girl, leaning on her black-damask armrest,
what is she reading?
Light through the shades is dim; the moon has
only begun to rise.
From ancient times, so many beauties call out
to you:
Young lady, read, and re-read, the “Guan ju”
verse of the Book of Odes.
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Kikuchi Sankei, “On a Picture of a Beauty as She
Reads.” Chinese quatrain from New Journal of
Blossoms and the Moon. 1877.
The clock ticks late in the afternoon; quietly,
shadows of her hairpins are cast along the wall.
A fragrance of blossoms fills the window, too
much for her to bear.
Wicked thoughts: she fears the red parrot’s
tongue.
Silently, she recites a few lines from the
Romance of the Western Chambers.
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Hashimoto Sanai, "Inscribed on an American
Erotic Image" Kanshi quatrain. ca. 1857, from
Hashimoto's Reien isō. 1871.
Throbbing desires, tender, but for whom?
She undresses, silently, in a scene of passion
gone mad.
Then suddenly a shock: what on earth has
occurred?
Beyond the window stands a man, peering in
on her.
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Matsumoto Fūko, Beauty in the Painting.
Illustration from Ishikawa Kōsai,
Demonic Tales from a Nocturnal Window. 1889.
Image Source:
Collection of
Robert Campbell
21
Photographic Portrait of Miss Harriet Lane,
niece of US President James Buchanan, with Chinese
quatrain by Morita Okatarō. 1860.
Image Source:
Man'en gannen
kenbei shisetsu
shiryo shusei, v.7.
Collection
of Robert Campbell
22
Photographic Portrait of Miss Harriet Lane,
niece of US President James Buchanan, with Chinese
quatrain by Morita Okatarō. 1860.
Image Source:
Man'en gannen
kenbei shisetsu
shiryo shusei, v.7.
Collection
of Robert Campbell
23
Photographic Portrait of Miss Harriet Lane,
niece of US President James Buchanan, with Chinese
quatrain by Morita Okatarō. 1860.
Image Source:
Man‘en gannen kenbei shisetsu shiryo shusei, v.7.
Collection of Robert Campbell
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Photographic Portrait of Miss Harriet Lane,
niece of US President James Buchanan, with Chinese
quatrain by Morita Okatarō. 1860.
亜国の佳人 名は冷艶
臂は美玉を纏ひ耳は
珠を穿つ
紅顔は必ずしも脂粉を
施さず
露出す 双肩白雪の膚
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Photographic Portrait of Miss Harriet Lane,
niece of US President James Buchanan, with Chinese
quatrain by Morita Okatarō. 1860.
An American beauty: they
call her Lane. (“cool and
voluptuous”)
Her arms are draped with
jewels; pearls pierce her
ears.
Complexion fresh, no need
for any rouge.
Skin white as the snow is
exposed on both of her
shoulders.
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Niijima Yae (1845 - 1932)
明日の夜は
何国の誰か
ながむらん
なれし御城に
残す月かげ
八重
Image Credit: Doshisha University
Included here by permission
27
Niijima Yae (1845 - 1932)
Tomorrow night
who, from which land,
will gaze out
on moonlight left shining
upon this dear old castle?
Image Credit: Doshisha University
Included here by permission
28
Tōkai Sanshi, Chance Encounter with a
Beauty. 1885.
Enraged to hear the realm had surrendered, one
of the noble young ladies bit her finger and wrote
upon the castle wall in her own blood:
“Over my lord's castle flies the flag of surrender -
Deep within its walls, how was I to know?”
She proceeded then to hang herself from a pine
tree in front of the buildings.
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Tōkai Sanshi, Chance Encounter with a
Beauty. 1885.
Another woman appeared. By the light of the
moon, she carved with her hairpin a waka poem into
the white mortar wall of the castle:
“From tomorrow on
who, from which land,
will gaze
on moonlight left shining upon
this great old castle?”
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