Ehon imayō sugata 絵本時世粧

FSC-GR-780.742.1-2

Commentary by Satō Satoru

Posted March 24, 2018

Original unedited text in Japanese follows

Utagawa Toyokuni I provided the illustrations for Ehon imayō sugata (A picture-book of fashionable figures), and the prefactory text in the first volume offers two different literary styles by Shikitei Sanba. There are twelve illustrations of women from various classes in volume 1: a court lady holding a fan made of cypress; samurai wives; concubines of a high-ranking man; a waka poetry master, resident at the back of a daimyo mansion; wealthy townswomen; an office for servant placement with the entrance to a female bathhouse on the left ; “Rear tenement (1)”; “Rear tenement (2)”; widows; female servers at teahouses and archery ranges; aristocratic women parading passing a yōjiya (楊枝屋), a shop selling toothpicks; and women from farming villages. The twelve images in volume 2 depict women associated with the sex trade from the Yoshiwara, Shinagawa, Fukagawa, Shinjuku, and other pleasure quarters: the first and second floors of a Yoshiwara brothel (two double-page compositions); geisha hastily preparing at the Hyōgoya teahouse on the Nakano-chō avenue in the Yoshiwara; the private quarters of a brothel; a low-class, riverbank brothel; Minamihama, a Shinagawa brothel; the second floor of a Shinagawa brothel; Tatsumi Fukagawa; a kodomoya (child’s house) brothel in Fukagawa; Kōeki Shinjuku, yotaka 夜鷹(a nightjar bird), here a euphemistic term for low-class “women of the night”; and boat prostitutes (funamanjū舟饅頭). With the exception of the image of a court lady at the beginning of volume 1, all the compositions portray groups of women; it is noteworthy that no men are included. Volume1 has humorous texts about the women and volume 2 has stories about the women of Yoshiwara.

It could be conjectured thatEhon imayō sugatafollows in the lineage of the Nishikawa Sukenobu’s illustrated book Hyakunin jorō shinasadame (FSC-GR-780.441.1-2). Here, however, the emphasis is on the depiction of a variety of female figures, rather than the portrayal of an actual view. For example, the composition of the employment agency (kuchiireya口入屋) in volume 1 (pp. 20–21 on the website) showcases different types of women to explain the role of such a business. It shows the “sponsor” (kimoiri kaka) as the middle (older) figure surrounded by various women (p. 19 on the website): the seated figure on the left is on trial is a concubine (mekake妾); the figure holding the umbrella is a mistress (kakoimono囲い者), identifiable by her shaven eyebrows; and the figure carrying a child is a nanny. Another distinguishing feature of this book is its portrayal of itinerant female workers such as glue-sellers, laundresses, and edamame vendors. The blank rectangular areas appearing in the images are believed to correspond to sections in the first printing containing descriptions about the women that were deleted early on. The Pulverer Collection also has a reprint from 1916 (FSC-GR-780.743.1-2).

書名　絵本時世粧
執筆者佐藤悟

歌川豊国が図版と戯文を執筆し、式亭三馬が校閲している。乾巻は文体を変えた二種の三馬による序文と、様々な階層の女性を描いた12図、それにちなんだ戯文からなる。坤巻は吉原、品川、深川、新宿などの売春を業とする女性を12図描き、吉原の女性を描いた戯文を備える。乾坤は檜扇を持った官女、武家の奥方、身分の高い男の妾、大名屋敷の奥で暮らす和歌の師匠、上層の町人、女湯の入り口と隣の口入屋、「裏すまゐの一」、「其二うらすまゐ」、未亡人、茶屋と楊弓場の娘、楊枝屋の前を通る姫君たち、農村の女性を描く。坤巻には吉原の遊女屋の一階と二階、仲之町の茶屋兵庫屋とそこで俄の準備をする芸者、遊女屋の内証、河岸見世、「南浜」（品川の妓楼）、品川の妓楼の二階、「辰巳ふか川」、深川の子供屋、「甲駅しんじゅく」、夜鷹、舟饅頭を描く。冒頭の官女以外は群像で描かれ、男性は一人も描かれない。西川祐信『百人女郎品定』の系譜上にある作品といえる。ただ様々な女性を描くことに主眼が置かれ、実景を描いたものではない。例えば口入屋の画面では肝煎かかを中心に、妾の目見得を待つ娘、眉を落とした月極の囲い者、子守が描かれ、口入屋の役割を説明する画面構成となっている。また糊売り、洗濯屋、枝豆売りなどの行商人を描いているのも特色である。色板の部分に四角の白抜きがあるのは、初版で女性の説明が入っていた部分で、早い時期に削除されたものと考えられている。

Selected Readings:
Suzuki Jūzō 鈴木重三, Kinsei Nihon fūzoku ehon shūsei『近世日本風俗絵本集成』(Tokyo: Rinsen Shoten, 1979). (Kinsei Nihon fūzoku ehon shūsei 近世日本風俗絵本集成uses the first edition that includes explanations about the women.)

Copies in other collections:
Iwase Bunko Library, Nishio City, Aichi Prefecture
National Diet Library, Tokyo
National Institute of Japanese Literature, Tokyo
Niigata University
Tōhoku University, Sendai
Tokyo National Museum