#ukio-e

(click for quality)

I went to an exhibit on kimonos with my best friend; we came across this ukio-e of a kabuki play about a lady thief, and she pointed at it and said "That's Fujiko", while I laughed at the deadpan face of the guy in the middle.

Three weeks later, here I am.

Original ukio-e and some trivia about kabuki under the cut !

Un musée tout neuf consacré à l’œuvre de Hokusai.

On découvre pas a pas comment se fabrique une estampe (sur bois) polychrome ( plusieurs passage, de la gravure au noir jusqu’à la dernière couleur), ainsi que l’évolution des techniques de l’ukio-e, de la monochromie à la polychromie.

On apprend aussi que Hokusai a consacré sa vie à l’estampe : il a d’abord été dessinateur puis apprenti graveur, puis graveur à son compte à l’âge adulte. Ses estampes célèbres sont l’œuvre de la grande maturité. Auparavant il se fait connaître en illustrant des livres et des romans.

Certaines de ses planches de Kaidan (spectres) montrent qu’il a dû avoir accès aux planches d’anatomies importées au Japon par les hollandais seuls autorisés au moment de la fermeture du pays.

Il est célèbre aussi pour le « Hokusai manga » : carnets de dessins et croquis avec également des recettes pour dessiner facile dignes d’un enseignement contemporain.

Did anyone ask for more Lupin III woodblock prints? No? Well too bad! 😁

Arquebuses were introduced in Japan in 1543 by visiting Portuguese ships. They were quickly copied by Japanese armourers and adopted by samurai warriors, despite a reputation as a coward's weapon. Thirty years later, Oda Nobunaga had already assembled an army of 3000 gunmen. A couple of handguns were also introduced in the country, with less success. The first cannons arrived in 1551, and were massively used by all three of the great unifiers. (source: Samouraï et Kamikaze, la tradition guerrière du Japon, by Constantin Parvulesco)

All of this means we've got a bunch of woodblock prints of samurais with firearms, including this ridiculous and awesome drawing of kabuki actor Nakamushi Utaemon playing the part of Gotobei with a huge-ass teppo gun. Of course, I had to redraw it as my favourite gun-wielding blorbo.

Original under the cut