Kuniyoshi: Otake and the Hag of Hell Serving Sake to the Rice God Inari

Artist: Utagawa Kuniyoshi 国芳

Title: Otake and the Hag of Hell (Datsueba) Serving Sake to the Rice God Inari お竹と奪衣婆のお酌で酒を飲む翁稲荷   Date: 1849

Otake is the young woman wearing a simple outfit and holding the sake bottle at right. She is portrayed as a paragon of virtue, and we can see her purity by the halo that is formed by a circle of red fabric behind her head. According to a 17th century legend, Otake was a maidservant who lived in Odenma-Cho in Edo. She was described as modest, frugal, hardworking and charitable. These also describe the ideal “wifely” characteristics of the time, which was certainly not a coincidence, so she served as an example of an exemplary women for the women of the time. She was apparently recognized as having a divine nature by mountain ascetics who had been searching for an incarnation of the Buddhist saint Dainichi Nyorai.

Kuniyoshi and his students designed a number of images in 1849 that feature this figure; this is because there was a very popular exposition (degaicho) of Buddhist icons and objects held at the precincts of Ekoin Temple in 1849. Publishers of course sought to profit from the popularity of the degaicho, as they knew then as they know now; that everyone is eager for a souvenir or keepsake of an enjoyable phenomenon.

The rice god Inari is sipping their sake, and seems to enjoy telling a story to the Hag of Hell. A plate of food also lies on the floor between them. Inari is a very popular kami in Japan, and is associated with plentiful harvests and general prosperity. They are also associated with foxes, and may be pictured as either male or female. Here, the Inari god is dressed as a man, but has features that seem foxlike and wears robes bearing three jewels. 

Datsueba is a character who inhabits the Buddhist hells; she serves with others under the King of Hell; as with all of the inhabitants of Buddhist hell, there is an outer function as one who carries out karmically earned punishments and at the same time a divine inner being who can offer solace and respite. A book has even been published about this character by Brill in 2022; apparently Datseuba was also a guardian of the human journey through life and death and is a multifaceted figure since her emergence in the eleventh century.

The extensive writing at top may have a didactic element to it and be a response to the last gasp of the Tempo Reforms.

Condition: Very good impression, color and condition. Fold along left edge and minor trimming at top.  Dimensions: ôban 35 x 25 cm
Literature: Iwakiri, Kuniyoshi (2011), #387; Tomizawa, Nishiki-e no chikara (2005), chart 3, #18, photos p. 37, p. 50; Shibuya Kuritsu Shôtô Bijutsukan, Ukiyoeshitachi no shinbutsu (1999), #99. See MFA website. See Sainsbury website for their discussion of the 1849 event. Signature: Ichiyusai Kuniyoshi ga

SKU: KUY625