Akazome Emon

This print, the eighth this year, depicts the Lady Akazome Emon, from the late tenth century. She lived in the same era as that group of Japanese women whose names have come down to modern times: Sei Shonagon, Ise no Taisuke, Murasaki Shikibu. Each of these women is well-known for some particular reason, either a novel, a remembered episode, perhaps a famous face... When I look through my history books for information on Akazome Emon, they all tell me the same thing - that she is best known for being a 'perfect' wife and mother. And poet, I presume!

And now, a small mystery. Perhaps you can be of some assistance to me this month. When it came time to mix the colours for this print, I found myself at a loss to decide on a suitable colour for the plant shown on the kimono. I cannot identify it. I spent hours in vain at the library hunting through books on Japanese flora for an illustration that shows the same plant. Is it a fruit? Vegetable? Pumpkin? Persimmon? Perhaps it is a plant common in the Edo era but unknown now. Perhaps Shunsho simply created a plant out of his imagination. Do any of you know what it is?

I await possible replies with some trepidation, as I finally settled on a green tone, and dread to hear that it should really be purple or something!

Coming up next month, Sangi no Masatsune.

October 1991