"UKIYOE" which is typical art of Japan.
This is a Japanese magazine called Brutus published this month[August, 2009].
It features UKIYOE of Japan.
Various questions about UKIYOE are featured on this book.
I explain some of those questions.
All the image of this page are expanded by click.
[ It becomes very big.]
A Question; What is the ukiyoe?
"EDO", The metropolis in Japan with a population of 10 million.
An answer;
It is the print with which the Edo citizen's "a fashion, a sport, entertainments, a gourmet, customs", etc. were expressed by UKIYOE.
And, UKIYOE is a duplicate print by clear color and bold composition.
A Question; What kind of man became a UKIYOE?
An answer;
It is the EDO citizens, and a samurai, etc.
Generally, "an EDO citizen[A townsman, a samurai, etc.]" became an ukiyoe artist.
Additionally, a special ukiyoe master existed, too.
It is an ukiyoe master who serves the EDO shogunate.
The EDO government chose the government purveyor's ukiyoe artist from the Kano group, and had employed them as a local civil servant.
Moreover, woman's ukiyoe master existed.
A Question; How much was the income of the ukiyoe artist?
An answer;
One piece of large size ukiyoe print seems to have been several dollars.
It is unexpectedly low-priced.
Since the ukiyoe print was wood engraving, the pain of the carved wooden block was intense and the reprint of 2000 sheets was a limit.
2000 sheets are the cases of "the ukiyoe which sells best."
That means, it is an income of only 8,000 dollars if one piece of large size ukiyoe print is 4 dollars even if it sells 2,000 pieces.
Many processes and time and hands are necessary for production of one piece of ukiyoe print.
Considering the manufacturing process, do you think that the amount of money of 8000 dollars is large amount of money?
A Question; Who is SHARAKU?
An answer;
SHARAKU is a Noh player of Awa.
He did not announce an own real name and own personal history intentionally.
And his activity as the ukiyoe artist was a very short period of ten months.
"A mystery ukiyoe artist."
It seems to be his popular cause.
A Question;
They are the same actor.
Which was popular?
An answer;
It is the right.
Left ukiyoe is a work of SHARAKU.
The work was disrepute because he drew truth too much.
The active period of SHARAKU as the ukiyoe artist was very short.
This seems to be the reason.
The right ukiyoe is a work of Toyokuni Utagawa.
Because ukiyoe was existence like the poster that brought dreams to people at that time, his work was very popular.
Then, finally please see Hokusai Katsushika's "SHUNGA".
This work is "AMA and the octopus" which are called "everlasting masterpiece SHUNGA in history."
Hararie
Tokyo Time
