Title : Hahakigi

Artist : Utagawa Hiroshige

Date : 1852

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Source : Honolulu Museum of Art
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Description : Hiroshige's Genji series is not well known. The entire series of five prints was made horizontally. The chapter's titles are located at the upper right side of each image. Gold-colored cloud patterns surround the edges of each scene. It appears as if the scenes are fading in and out. This device is called suyari-gasumi (literally, “straight haze”). It helps to hide story elements which do not need to be depicted, and allows viewers to focus on important items in a picture. It is also used to provide transition to different situations and times in the story. If you look carefully, you will see traces of metal dots on the clouds. These dots are thought to imitate a traditional decorative device known as kirihaku (literally “to cut gold or silver sheets”). These orthodox images by Hiroshige indicate that he was familiar with the traditional Yamato-e style (painting by Japanese artists depicting Japanese scenes and concerns in contrast to Kara-e, or Chinese style painting) of the Tosa School, of which some paintings are also shown in this exhibition. (from Tale of Genji exhibition 1/11/06-)

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