Yoshitoshi 芳年: Mount Ji Ming Moon; Ji Fang 鶏鳴山の月 子房 (Reserved)

Artist: Tsukioka Yoshitoshi (1839-1892)
Title: Mount Ji Ming Moon–Zi Fang Keimeisan no tsuki Shibo 鶏鳴山の月 子房

Series: One Hundred Aspects of the Moon月百姿 (Tsuki hyaku sugata)
Date: 1886

The Chinese hero Zi Fang, (also called Zhang Liang), stands on the edge of a cliff playing the flute, which is halfway hidden by his tremendous beard. Zi Fang served Liu Bang, who became the first Han emperor in 206 BC. The scene is the night prior to a battle, and Zi Fang has climbed a hill that overlooks the enemy encampment. He begins to play melodies from the enemy’s home province, so that many enemy soldiers desert the camp out of homesickness and Zi Fang’s own forces may prevail. The hero wears the Chinese cap and sword, and his billowing white garment features blindprinting and is caught by the wind, and the large blue tassels form a trumpet shape that must echo the flute playing in a visual way. This story was apparently well-known in Japan, and it seems to have parallels to the famous story of Yoshitoshi’s Flute Player triptych, wherein Fujiwara Yasumasa also vanquished an enemy with the beauty of his flute.

Condition: Excellent impression, color and condition. Unbacked.
Dimensions: ôban vertical (35.5 x 24 cm)
Publisher: Akiyama Buemon
Literature: John Stevenson, Yoshitoshi’s One Hundred Aspects of the Moon (San Francisco: San Francisco Graphic Society, 1992), number 31. See British Museum, Portland Art Museum, National Museum of Asian Art collections. 
Seal: Taiso Signature: Yoshitoshi

SKU: YOT919