Oshikyo-Sixteen Charming Figures of Female Hermits

Category

Library Item

Item no

320

Title

Sennin Oshikyo from the series 'Sixteen Charming Figures of Female Hermits and Devotees' (Enshi Juroku Josen)

Description

A woman in a black kimono stands with a crane shaped kite at her feet. Above her head there is a smaller image of Sennin Oshikyo (Wangzi Qiao), a Taoist immortal, riding on a crane and playing the 'sho' an ancient Chinese mouth organ. This image is framed by a blue border strewn with auspicious lingzhi fungus.

Artist / maker

Kuniyoshi

Date

1847

Size

38.5 x 26.5 cm.

Type

Wood cut

Location

Art and Design Library

The following information appears on the print:

Signature: Ichiyusai Kuniyoshi ga
Censor's Seals: Yoshimura and Muramatsu (1847 - 1848)

From a series of 16 prints titled '16 Charming Figures of Female Hermits and Devotees' ('Enshi Juroku Josen')

This print is a parody or 'mitate' of a classical theme where the kite takes the place of Wangzi's crane, which he is said to have flown over Goushi mountain on his journey to becoming an immortal.

This is one of a set of 50 prints donated to Edinburgh City Libraries by Marie Ferguson Dyer in honour of her father Henry Dyer. Dyer was a Scottish engineer who became the first Principal of the Imperial College of Engineering in Tokyo in 1872.

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Related images

Related subjects

Clothing and dress > Garments > Kimonos

Places > Asia > Japan

Sport and leisure > Activities > Kites

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