Ise

As long-time collectors of my prints know by now, the second print I make every year is a female poet, and this month is the Lady Ise, who lived in the early 900's, and who was a mistress of the Emperor Uda.

I have mixed feelings about Shunsho's female designs. Looking over his male poets one sees a very diverse collection of men: young ... old ... chubby, stern, wistful, arrogant, happy-go-lucky - a wide range of human types and emotions. When we turn to the women however, the story is different. Shunsho has given us simple stylized faces, standard poses, and no clues at all to the real character of the person. His women are objects, not people. (How far have we come in the intervening two hundred years ...?). Of course, his designs were made as part of a long tradition of such formalized depictions, and it is not really fair to expect anything else from an 18th century Ukiyo-e artist. The real surprise is that the men are depicted with some individuality ....

I've been collecting different English translations of the Hyaku-nin Isshu to try and get a better understanding of the poems, but sometimes I just get more confused.

This seems basically understandable, but when I check another version, the feeling is '... I hope we will only be apart for a short time ...' The next translator says '... come to me even if only for a short time ...' Confusing? Well, yes, but I suppose that the same basic feeling underlies them all. I think that the vagueness is one of the reasons why this poetry has been so long lasting - everybody can read into it just what he or she wants to hear. (And there's certainly no shortage of things to argue about and discuss ad infinitum ...)

Now ... I think it's time for a bit of a contest. Last year I told you about how I was sometimes expanding the number of colours I used to make some of the prints, as compared to the originals. This month, perhaps I got a bit carried away. There are four (or perhaps five) colours in the original, but I have used .... somewhat more than that. Just how many more? Take a careful look, count how many colours you think I printed, and drop me a postcard with your answer. I can't guarantee fame and fortune for the 'winner', but I'm certainly interested in seeing who can come closest ... (Matsuzaki-san, you can sit this one out ....)

I hope you enjoy this print. Coming up next month, Fujiwara no Sanekata.

April, 1992