Kuniyoshi: Beauty and Cat Stretching and the Taoist Immortal Bukan (Published)

Artist: Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1798-1861)
Title: Zen Priest Bukan
Series: Sixteen Female Sennin Charming Creatures (Enshi juroku josen)
Date: ca. 1847

Charming scene of a beauty and her cat both stretching after waking. From the humorous series that compares sixteen beauties with the sixteen Taoist Immortals (sennin), in the inset cartouche we see the Taoist Immortal Bukan, who was known for taming a tiger and riding atop it to his monastery. We see a beauty stretching with fingers interlocked and a sleepy expression, a few tendrils of stray hairs indicating that she has been asleep. The Taoist Immortal Bukan is also stretching above right, his face in a yawn, perhaps rising up from a nap with his pet tiger beside him. As Kuniyoshi has placed several open books on the floor, along with a hairpin, we are led to guess that she fell asleep reading. Beside her is her large white cat, its open mouth curling from a yawn, also stretching dramatically after napping. This exact print has been published full page in Rhiannon Paget’s book “Divine Felines: The Cat in Japanese Prints”, page 134. She writes in her description that the inscribed poem explains that the pair are drowsy because they woke up a at the hour of the tiger (equivalent to about 4 am). Perhaps they are waking from an afternoon nap the same day? Scarce.

Condition: Excellent color. Very good impression and condition. Minor trimming, with minor restored binding holes and backing.

Dimensions: ôban (35.3 x 24.2 cm)
Publisher: Aritaya Kiyoemon  Seal: Kiri  Signature: Ichiyûsai Kuniyoshi ga

Literature: Paget, Rhiannon. Divine Felines: The Cat in Japanese Art. Tuttle (2023), p. 134 (this exact print is shown). See the cover of the 2006 Bato Hiroshige Museum of Art catalog featuring cats. 

SKU: KUY455