Kuniyoshi: Sagino Heikuro (鷺沼平九郎）Bare-handedly Fighting with a Giant Snake deep in the Mountains
Artist: Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1798-1861)
Title: Saginoike Heikuro Battling the Giant Snake まき柱 Maki-bashira (Cypress Pillar, Chapter 31) Maki-bashira (まき柱) Series: Japanese and Chinese comparisons for the Chapters of Genji: 和漢准源氏 (Wakan nazorae Genji) Date: 1855, 7th month
Sagi no ike Heikuro has taken the matter of a giant snake into his own hands, quite literally. We see the look of concentration has he pries open the serpent’s enormous fanged jaws using only the strength of his arms. The eyes of the serpent are blood-red, and the forked tongue features an added pigment to give the look of real blood. This series is known for its western touches, but in this design we see it mainly in some subtle chiaroscuro on the figure of the hero. The serpent has coiled itself around Heikuro’s torso and thigh, and the rest of its tremendous length is shown wrapped around the bough of a pine tree. Heikuro has dropped the wood axe he was carrying to dispatch the monster. Kuniyoshi has revisited this story a number of times, and an earlier work from 1830 shows a significantly different style. Here we see Kuniyoshi’s excellent rendering of hands, along with his talent at capturing the visage at an unusual angle. Beautifully printed, with extensive mica in the sky as well as in the dark stripes of the snake.
Regarding this series, Kuniyoshi interpreted each of the fifty-four Chapters of the Tale of Genji by associating them with famous figures from Japanese and Chinese history, legends, and folktales.
Though it is not known if he did the complete chapters, some are known, such as “Sekiya” (represented by Guan Yuz, the celebrated Chinese general of the Three Kingdoms period.), “Otome” (associated with the legend of Lady Huayang, a fox-spirit figure from Chinese lore), and “Yomogi-u “(represented by Momotaro, the Japanese folk hero.)
“Nazorae” 準 means more of an analogy, a re-interpretation or a comparison, rather than directly substituting Genji characters with specific individuals. Kuniyoshi translated the themes, emotions or dramatic situations of each chapter into stories involving other well-known historical and legendary figures in a way similar to “Mitate”, namely parody pictures or allusive pictures, in which classical literary subjects were re-imagined through different characters and settings.
“Makibashira” (真木柱 The Cypress Pillars) is Chapter thirty-one of the Tale of Genji, which centers on the marriage of Tamakazura and Higekuro. It also tells of Higekuro’s first wife, who had left his household and returned to her family home, taking her daughter, Makibashira, with her. Here Kuniyoshi did not refer to the story but played literally with two words: “maki” and “bashira”. “Maki” 巻き meaning coil around, “bashira/hashira” 柱 pillar, namely with this scene of Heikurô fighting with a monster snake, coiling around a pine tree.
A strong man, Heikurô opens up the mouth of the snake. As for the name of a brave man, “Sagi-no-numa 鷺沼”（heron swamp), comes from the legendary known Sagi-no-ike 鷺池”(heron pond), who appeared as a strong man of Kusunoki Masayuki.* Kuniyoshi changed from “pond” 池 to “swamp” 沼.
Sagi-no-ike Heikurô appeared some other prints of Kuniyoshi, who seemed to like him as subject; namely One of the Eight Hundred Heroes of the Japanese Suikoden “(本朝水滸伝剛勇八百人一個); “Koshikawa from the Series of the Sixty-nine Stations of the Kisokaidô” (木曽街道六十九次越川).
*Book « Kusunoki Masayuki senkô zu-e“「楠正行戦功図会」
With thanks to Michiko Sato-Grube for her research.
Condition: Excellent impression , color and condition.
Dimensions: ôban
Publisher: Ise Yoshi
Literature: “Kuniyoshi: The Warrior Prints” by BW Robinson, series S88. See the British Museum for the Miller example, which has been strongly trimmed.
Signature: Ichiyûsai Kuniyoshi ga
SKU: KUY645
