Onna imagawa oshiebumi 女今川教文

FSC-GR-780.348

Commentary by Kitagawa Hiroko

Posted January 8, 2018

Original unedited text in Japanese follows

Onna imagawa oshiebumi was widely circulated as an educational text (ōraimono 往来物) for girls to use as a lesson primer or as a practice book for handwriting. The calligrapher Chō Yūshōken 長友松軒 (also known as Genkaidō 玄海堂) worked on a number of handwriting manuals for writing kana, and the artist Kitao Sekkōsai 北尾雪坑斎 (act. 1744–1781) was also popular as an illustrator of these publications.

The upper register in the first double-page opening has the Onna kyōkun dokushohon mokuroku 女教訓読書本目録 (Listing of readings for the teaching of girls). The colors of the image below have been applied using the stenciling technique of kappazuri (合羽摺). A technique not commonly found in Edo publications, kappazuri was mainly associated with the Kamigata (Kyoto-Osaka) region. Kamigata educational texts dating to 1760 with a frontispiece (kuchi-e 口絵) designed by Sekkōsai and printed with the kappazuri technique were popular, and this volume reflects this trend. Only the frontispiece illustration is done in color, with the remaining pages printed in monochrome. The second and third openings (pp. 2–4 on the website) have been divided into four separately framed images that illustrate women from various social levels and professions, and accompanied by waka poems. The openings that follow (pp. 2 to right folio [18] on the website) provide commentaries on verse by the female poets featured in the poetry anthology Hyakunin isshu 百人一首 (One hundred poets, one poem each).

Sekkōsai has rendered the figures of the women in a contemporary style, and in addition to the waka are the titles of the imperial poetry anthologies in which these poems appear. The histories of these female writers are recorded in the text. The tenth opening onwards (p. 19 and after on the website) includes practice models for handwriting and calligraphy by Chō Yūshōken. The texts explain the various matters that women and girls should be familiar with. The fact that publications like this example were produced and broadly circulated offers insight into the level of women’s education during the Edo period. The first edition of this book was published in 1768. For an erotic version of this book, see Onna shimegawa oshiebumi (FSC-GR-780.16).

書名女今川教文

執筆者北川博子

「女今川」は女性の往来物として、習字手本や教訓書として広く普及した。筆跡の長友松軒（玄海堂とも）は当時数多くの仮名書き手本を手がけており、北尾雪坑斎も往来物の絵師として人気があった。まず、冒頭見開きに「女教訓読書本目録」が合羽摺で着色された絵の上部に書かれている。合羽摺とは、切り取った型紙の上から着色する技法で、江戸ではあまり用いられず、主として上方（京都・大坂）で用いられた。1760年以降の上方では、口絵に雪坑斎が描く合羽摺の挿絵がある往来物が人気を博しており、本書もそういった流れの中で誕生した。この口絵を除き墨摺りである。pp. 2–4は1ページに4分割で、様々な階層、職業の女性を描き、和歌を添えている。pp. 5–18は百人一首に採られている女性作者の歌についての解説が施されている。和歌とその和歌が収録されている勅撰和歌集名を雪坑斎が描く当世風の女性に添え、頭書には女性作者の来歴が記されている。p. 19以降は友松軒の習字手本であるが、頭書には女性が知るべき様々な事柄についての説明が記されている。このような往来物が多く出されていることからも、江戸時代の女性教育の水準の高さを知ることができる。なお、本書の初版は1768年である。

Selected readings:

Kitagawa Hiroko 北川博子, “Kamigata ukiyo-e kenkyū: ichimai-e, nikuhitsu, hanpon” 「上方浮世絵研究－一枚絵・肉筆・版本」, Bijutsu fōramu 21 『美術フォーラム21』, vol. 34 (November 2016), 53–58.

Suzuki Jun 鈴木淳, “‘Saishoku gasen’to shōjudō” 「『彩色画選』と松寿堂」, Ukiyo-e geijutsu 165『浮世絵芸術165』(January 2013), 19–36.

Copies in other collections:

Hiroshima University　

Kasei Gakuin University, Tokyo

Tōhoku University, Sendai