Utagawa Kuniyoshi
Japanese (1798 - 1861) Primary

Tsumagome: Abe no Yasuna and the Fox Kuzunoha, from the series Sixty-nine Stations of the Kisokaidô Road (Kisokaidô rokujûkyû tsugi no uchi) 「木曾街道六十九次之内　妻籠　安倍保名　葛葉狐」

Edo
1852

Sheet
14 1/2 x 9 3/4 in. (36.83 x 24.765 cm)

This object has the following keywords:

• Edo - Refers to the period and style that developed from the unification of Japan in 1600 until the end of the shogunal dynasty in 1868. During this period, economic expansion encouraged the rise of an educated merchant class who created their own forms of literature and theater as well as new schools of painting and woodblock printing. A wide diversity of pictorial subjects and styles developed during this period and many 19th century Western artists were influenced by them.
• foxes - General term referring to various members of the family Canidae, especially those of the genus Vulpes, such as the red or common, fox (V. vulpes), which lives in both the Old World and the New World. Several other foxes belong to genera other than Vulpes, including the North American gray fox, the Arctic fox, and the the bat-eared fox, and the crab-eating fox. Foxes resemble small dogs, with pointed snouts, large ears, and bushy tails.
• Japanese - Nationality, periods, cultures, and styles found in Japan, either in historical times or in the present.
• oban - Japanese prints of a standard size about 15 3/4 by 10 1/2 inches.
• spirits - Incorporeal or immaterial beings, as opposed to beings having body and matter; used especially in theology. For spiritual beings who were once human or animal, see "souls."
• Ukiyo-e - Distinctive genre in painting and other media, but most prominently in woodblock printing. It arose in the Edo period (1600-1868) and built up a broad popular market among the middle classes. Subject matter typically focused on brothel districts and kabuki theatres, with formats ranging from single sheet prints to book illustrations. Generally, the style is characterized by a mixture of the realistic narrative of the Kamakura period and the mature decorative style of the Momoyama and Edo periods. Distinctive styles and specialties in subject matter were developed by different schools throughout the period.
• Utagawa, Kuniyoshi, 1798-1861 - Sources:
  - Robinson, B. W.: Kuniyoshi, 1961
  - Suzuki, J. Kuniyoshi, 1985:
  - Forrer, M. Drawings by Utagawa Kuniyoshi from the collection of the National Museum of Ethnology, Leiden, 1988:
  - Info. from 678 field, converted 2012-10-25
  - LC database, June 12, 2020
• Utagawa, Kuniyoshi, 1798-1861. Sixty-nine stations of the Kisokaidô Road - Sources:
  - Thompson, Sarah E. Utagawa Kuniyoshi, 2009:
  - Kuniyoshi project, Oct. 21, 2008
  - Museum of Fine Arts, Boston website, Oct. 21, 2008
  - Grove art online, Oct. 21, 2008
• woodcuts - Prints made using the process of woodcut, which is a relief process in which the design is cut into and printed from the plank side of a wood block; distinct from "wood engraving (process)," which is a relief process using the grain end of a wood block.