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Station 26: Nissaka

Kunisada I (Toyokuni III), 1854, Wood cut
Station 26: Nissaka
Station 26: Nissaka
Station 26: Nissaka
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Category
Library Item
Item no
16272
Title
Fifty-three stations by two brushes (Sohitsu gojusantsugi). Station 26: Nissaka
Description
In this print a woman dressed in a theatrical kimono stands before a rock from which water is spouting. The woman's long hair falls around her shoulders as she raises a bamboo ladle above her head. In kabuki theatre the portrayal of a woman with long untidy hair is used to indicate madness or the supernatural.
On the ground by the woman's feet lies a discarded blue kimono with a pink blossom design. The woman has slipped her arms out of the red and blue kimono that she is wearing and her yellow floral underkimono is visible. Her obi belts are loosely tied adding to the woman's dishevelled appearance. This layering of kimono fabric creates a colourful effect of pattern upon pattern. Upon her main kimono, roundels of white blossom are repeated against a blue Chinese lattice ground. The design of this material is combined with a red and white tie-dyed (shibori) star burst fabric.
In the background inset, Hiroshige depicts a hamlet at the foot of a mountain. The Japanese inscription on the print refers to the mountain trail known as 'Sayo no nakayama'. In Hiroshige's Hoeido series, the NIssaka edition shows travellers climbing up the steep Sayo no nakayama path. In this scene, a few people have stopped to inspect the 'yonaka ishi' or 'night weeping stone'. Legend describes how a large stone witnessed the murder of a pregnant woman on the Sayo no nakayama path, and how this stone miraculously began to weep. Kunisada's figure may have been inspired by this legend.
Artist / maker
Kunisada I (Toyokuni III)
Engraver
Hori Take (Yokogawa Takejiro)
Date
1854
Size
36 x 24.8 cm
Type
Location
Art and Design Library
Rights and purchasing
Option
Price
Digital FileElectronic file 72 dpi JPEG
£5.80(inc. VAT 20%)
Digital FileElectronic File 300 dpi TIFF
£29.40(inc. VAT 20%)
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