Title : Parody of Matsuura Sayo-hime

Artist : Suzuki Harunobu

Date : c. 1766

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Source : Honolulu Museum of Art
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Description : Although it appears that a young beauty merely gives a send-off to someone leaving in a flat bottomed boat, the scene is actually a parody of the Noh play Haku Rakuten. The man in the boat represents the Chinese poet Bo Juyi, while the young maiden on the embankment plays the role of the old fisherman. In the Noh play, the god of Sumiyoshi in the guise of a fisherman represents Japan and its poetry repelling an invasion by the Chinese poet and his nation’s poetry. (Tadashi Kobayashi, Edo Beauties in Ukiyo-e, 1994) The woman wears a light kimono suggestive of a summer scene, and as she lifts her arms the fabric of her light summer kimono flaps like sails in the steady, cooling breeze coming off of the water. (from Summer Evenings: Harunobu exhibition 5/30/06-) This scene of a young beauty seeing off someone leaving in a flat-bottomed boat is a parody of the Noh play Haku Rakuten. The man in the boat represents the Chinese poet Bo Juyi, while the young maiden on the embankment plays the role of an old fisherman. In the Noh play, the god of Sumiyoshi in the guise of a fisherman represents Japan and its poetry repelling an invasion by the Chinese poet and his nation’s poetry. The girl’s hairstyle, decorated with fixed hairpins and a comb, is called “Shimada style.” This style was named after the Shimada station on the Tökaidö road, since it was said to have been invented by courtesans from that region. The Shimada style became the basis of most other Edo hairstyles for women from all classes. (from "VOGUE in Japan: Edo Fashion through Japanese prints 07/30/08-)

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