Eijūdō Hibino at Seventy-one is an ukiyo-e woodblock print dating to around 1799 by Edo period artist Utagawa Toyokuni I. According to its inscription, the print was produced in commemoration of the featured subject, print publisher Nishimuraya Yohachi I's, seventy-first year. The print is part of the permanent collection of the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Canada.
Utagawa Toyokuni I Utagawa Toyokuni (歌川豐國), also known as Toyokuni I, was the second head of the Utagawa school, and one of the most influential and prolific print-makers of the Edo period.According to Marks, by the time of his death at age 57, Toyokuni had produced more than 90 print series, over 400 illustrated books, and several hundred single sheet prints. (2010, 96) From early adolescence, he apprenticed with Utagawa Toyoharu,Chiappa 2013 studying the style of his mentor, as well as those of Chōbunsai Eishi, Utamaro and Eishōsai Chōki.Percival 1978, 30 He achieved his greatest commercial success within the genres of bijinga (prints of beautiful women)Percival purports that Toyokuni was considered "Utamaro's closest rival in bijinga." (1978, 30) and, more significantly, kabuki-e and yakusha-e (kabuki and kabuki actor prints).Encyclopædia Britannica The latter constitute the "overwhelming majority" of his works.Marks 2010, 96
His style is praised for its "powerful and vivid lines,"Encyclopædia Britannica "striking color contrasts,"The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia "decorative bombast,"Lane 1978, 152 and "bold, taut designs."Newland 2003, 502 He is credited with innovating polyptych formats,Percival 1978, 32 and with training prominent pupils, including Kunisada and Kuniyoshi.Tazawa 1981, 346 The copiousness stemming from his success appears to have taken a toll, however. The contemporary consensus is that the quality of his later work "shows a marked decline,"Waterhouse 1975, 200 and even "degenerated frequently into sheer grotesquerie."Encyclopædia Britannica Some contend his talent was "predominantly imitative,"Lane 1978, 151 resulting more from study than "intuitive genius."Chiappa 2012
Nishimuraya Yohachi Nishimuraya Yohachi (dates unknown)"Mr. Edmonds, the cataloguer at Sotheby’s before the Second World War, seems to have been the first to suggest, in a catalogue of 1912, that Eijudō was born in 1729 and would therefore be seventy-one by Japanese reckoning, in 1799. 1799 is a plausible date for the print, but Edmunds cited no source for his information about the year of Eijudō’s birth, and no recent Japanese scholar has proposed a date." (Museum Angewandte Kunst) was one of the leading print publishers of the late 18th century.Newland 2003, 475 He founded the Nishimuraya Yohachi publishing house, also known as Nishiyo (西与),Newland 2003, 175 which operated in Nihonbashi's Bakurochō Nichōme under the shop name Eijudō. The firm's exact dates are unclear, but many art historians date its activity to between c. 1751 and 1860.Pushkin State Museum; Japanese PrintsNewland is less precise, describing Nishimuraya as active from the "mid-eighteenth to mid-nineteenth century (2003, 475); Machotka chooses the period c. 1789-1830 (2009, 64), and Volker insists on 1738-1818 (1949, 20).
According to Andreas Marks, Nishimuraya's "success came from engaging the best artists and providing a broad range of prints to satisfy the public's interest."Japanese Prints One of the press' most significant products was Hokusai's Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji, which appeared between c. 1830 and 1833.Newland 2003, 206 In addition to Hokusai and Toyokuni I, Nishimuraya Yohachi published prints by Chobunsai Eishi, Utagawa Kuniyasu and Utagawa Kunisada.Japanese Prints Nishimuraya's store is immortalized in the 1787 print Scene of Print Buyers at the Shop of Nishimuraya Yohachi (Eijudou) on New Year’s Day by Torii Kiyonaga (1752-1815).Part of the Gerhard Pulverer Collection currently housed at the Smithsonian's Freer Gallery.
Print details
Medium: nishiki-e woodblock print on paper Size: oban Format: tate-e Japanese title: none Exhibit title: Portrait of Publisher Eijudō Hibino at age 71Many sources transliterate the given name in the inscription with the three kanji characters 日, 比 and 野, which is read as 'Hibino.' The British Museum, for one, reads the name as the two characters 昆 and 野, which are read as 'Konno.' While the latter seems most likely based on the size and placement of the characters, the former is most commonly repeated in references to the publisher and his portrait. Subject: commemoration of 71st year of Nishimuraya Yohachi Text: ichi fuji ni/ ni taka iro yoshi/ san nasubi (First Fuji/ second a hawk of good colour/ third an eggplant); top left side of print Inscription: nanajūissai/ Eijūdō Hibino (七十一翁永寿堂日比野); lower left edge Signature: Toyokuni ga (豊国画), lower right edge (obscured by mat) Publisher mark: Mitsu tomoe mark (Nishimuraya Yohachi),Newland 2003, 571 lower right edge below signature Publisher seal: Eiju han (Nishimuraya Yohachi - 西村屋与八), bottom right corner (partially obscured by mat) Censor seal: none Date seal: none Genre: portrait Credit line: Gift of Sir Edmund Walker
Image Depicted in the print is the seventy-one-year-old Nishimuraya Yohachi, seated on his mattress and bedding in front of a painted byōbu (屏風) folding screen. He is dressed formally in a winter haori coat and kimono, both decorated with a pattern of repeated 寿 (kotobuki) characters. Not only does this character signify "longevity,"Romajidesu.com but it is also the second character in Eijudō (永寿堂), the name of Nishimuraya's shop.
On his lap, he holds a folded fan. He sits before a small, black lacquer lectern emblazoned with the mitsu tomoe logo representing his publishing house. Resting on the stand is an open book upon which Nishimuraya's gaze is resting. Given the fan and his posture, it is likely that he is engaging in the New Year's convention of reciting nō plays,Museum Angewandte Kunst an intended indication of the elegance and erudition of this "man of taste."Volker 1949, 15
Text & symbolism The text appearing in the upper left area of the print repeats a popular verse or proverb relating to Japanese New Year:
一富士に (Ichi Fuji ni) : First, Fuji. 二鷹 (ni taka) : Second, a hawk.Taka can be translated as 'hawk' or 'falcon', but the former is the preferred term in transcriptions of the verse 色よし (iro yoshi) : Of good colour, 三茄子 (san nasubi) : Third, an eggplant.
The imagery of the verse is echoed in the screen design, which features an outline of Mount Fuji, a soaring hawk and an eggplant. These three elements belong to the hatsuyume (初夢) or 'First Dream' tradition, a belief that, when seen in order in the first dream of the year, these items augur good fortune. This was a popular notion by the mid-seventeenth century, and is a common motif in prints and paintings from the period.JAANUS These images continue to appear on new year greeting cards (nengajō - 年賀状) to this day.
The auspiciousness of these objects can be attributed to a variety of factors. In Edo era Japan, hawks were considered "natural emblems of the Japanese warrior class due to their keen eyesight, their predatory nature, and their boldness."Baird 2001, 109 The homophone 高 (taka) means 'great' or 'high.' The eggplant has long been considered to have associations with fertility,Baird 2001, 221 and is also a homophone for 成す (nasu), "to accomplish; to achieve; to succeed in."Romajidesu.com 'Fuji' (富士), when written with the homophone kanji characters 不 (fu - not/ un-) and 死 (ji - death), can be interpreted to mean 'immortality.'Joly 1983, 152 When taken as a group, the combination of the syllables fuji, taka, nasu can also be read as homophones for "unparalleled success."Baird 2001, 221-222
Some have suggested that the text's calligraphy and even the images on the screen backdrop may have been done by Nishimuraya Yohachi himself. According to the Museum Angewandte Kunst, Nishimuraya's involvement is hinted at by "the fact that a kakihan [書判]kakihan/ kaō: "Specifically designed character representing or accompanying the signature and affixed at the end of letters and documents.... In the Edo period, the style of kaou was influenced by the 14-17c calligraphic fashion of Ming China, called minchoutai 明朝体. This was characterized by two horizontal lines (representing heaven and earth) drawn above and below the central abbreviated character." (JAANUS) or paraphe [sic] follows Eijudō's signature."
Fuji-kō Nishimuraya Yohachi is known to have been a member of the Fuji-kō, an Edo period cult centred around Mount Fuji.Honolulu Museum Founded by an ascetic named Hasegawa Kakugyō (1541-1646),Melton 2008, 231 the cult venerated the mountain as a female deity, and encouraged its members to climb it.Yamaguchi In doing so, they would be reborn, "purified and... able to find happiness."Yamaguchi The cult waned in the Meiji period, and, though it persists to this day, it has been subsumed into Shintō sects.Melton 2008, 231
The publisher's association with the Fuji-kō gives clues not only to imagery in his portrait, but also to his eagerness to participate in the production of Hokusai's series celebrating Mount Fuji.
Memorialization Many art historians suggest that the portrait was likely a private commission based on the print's content and the fact that it has no kiwame-in censor seal.Honolulu Museum The precise reason for the print's production is less clear, however. Some describe it as a New Year's gift from the publisher to friends,Museum Angewandte Kunst others feel it was issued to "celebrate both the New Year and Nishimura Yohachi’s longevity,"Honolulu Museum still others think it was an acknowledgement of Nishimuraya's 71st birthday.British Museum It is also possible that it was issued to memorialize the publisher having experienced hatsuyume.
What is fairly universally accepted is that it is a very rare and notable work, being "one of the few ichimai-e [single sheet prints] of the 18th century to feature neither a bijin nor an actor."Museum Angewandte Kunst There is an ukiyo-e genre known as shini-e devoted to memorializing the dead, particularly artists. Alternatively, the nigao-e genre of 'likeness pictures' constitutes portraits—often head-shots—of mainly actors. There is, however, within the universe of Edo era ukiyo-e, no tradition of personal portraiture of non-celebrities as exemplified in this print.
Date The ROM dates the print to c. 1799, which is in line with the data offered by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and the Museum Angewandte Kunst in Frankfurt. Both the Honolulu Museum of Art and the British Museum date the print slightly earlier at 1797-1798. The Art Institute of Chicago narrows the date to 1798.
Art historians are also divided in their estimates of the print's age. Clark believes the print to be from 1797-1798 based on the similarity of its signature to those on other works known to be from that period.2001, 19 Volker links it to "about 1790,"1949, 15 while Newland describes the image as having been produced "in the 1790s."2003, 475
Provenance The print was donated to the ROM by Sir Edmund Walker (1848–1924), long-time president of the Canadian Bank of Commerce and first Chairman of the Board of Trustees for the ROM.Waterhouse 1975, 12 Walker began collecting Japanese art in the 1870s, making him one of the earliest North American collectors. He bought many pieces in New York in the 1870s and '80s, and during a trip to London in 1909.Waterhouse 1975, 13 In 1919, after travelling to Japan, China and Korea, he was named Honorary Consul-General of Japan for Toronto.Waterhouse 1975, 15
Copies in other collections Museum of Fine Arts, Boston Object title: Eijudô Hibino (Publisher Nishimuraya Yohachi) at Seventy-one (Nanajû-ichi ô Eijudô Hibino)See image and details at http://www.mfa.org/collections/object/eijud-hibino-publisher-nishimuraya-yohachi-at-seventy-one-nanaj-ichi-eijud-hibino-177164