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ID: Pale_Moon_Cats_Fan

Class: costume accessories • woodblock print • Ukiyo-e • Edo (Japanese Period)

Work Type: uchiwas 

Title: Pale Moon, Cats in Season

Title: Oborozuki neko no sakari

Title: おぼろ月猫の盛 

Creator Display: Utagawa Kuniyoshi (Japanese, 1798-1861) [ULAN ID: 500063102];

Role: Artist

Kuniyoshi, Utagawa

Creation Date: 1846

Earliest: 1846    Latest: 1846

Subject: anthropomorphic • calico cats • courtesans • brothels • drags, litters and pedestrian land vehicles • lantern (lighting device) • kimono • yukata • folding fans • samurai • katana • crests • Yoshiwara (district in Japan) • Edo • Tokyo • Japan • Asia • Edo (Japanese period) • 1846 CE

Current Location: unknown

Creation Location: Tōkyō (inhabited place) [TGN ID: 7004472]

Measurements:

Height: 22.7 centimetres

Width: 29.5 centimetres

Materials and Techniques: woodblock print using colored ink on paper

Material: paper • ink

Technique: woodblock print

Marks: Publishers seal Iba-ya Sensaburô

Style: ukiyo-e

Pale Moon Cats in Season.jpg

Image retrieved from Kuniyoshi Project

Description: Pale Moon, Cats in Season is a woodblock print intended to be made into an uchiwa-e, a Japanese fan that does not fold. This Ukiyo-e style print was created by the artist Utagawa Kuniyoshi a master of the Utagawa school. The print was created in 1846, during a period of censorship caused by the Tenpō Reforms. One aspect of the Tenpō Reforms targeted the lifestyle of the wealthy merchant class censoring the extravagance of the prostitution and entertainment industries like kabuki. To avoid this censorship Utagawa Kuniyoshi placed cats in the role of people. This scene depicts the Yoshiwara district of Edo, the capital of Japan, where courtesans, prostitutes and entertainers lived and worked, and townsfolk and samurai passing by on the street.

Authority Records

ID: YOSHIWARA_district_Tokyo

Yoshiwara (district)

 

Names:

Yoshiwara

 

Broader Context display:

 

Hierarchical position:

World (Facet)

• Asia (continent)

•  • Japan (nation)

•  • • Tōkyō (prefecture)

•  • •  • Yoshiwara (district)

 

Place Type:

inhabited place (preferred) •  founded 1456

commercial center

 industrial center • since late 19th cen.

educational center

tourist center

 

Coordinates:

Lat: 35 45 0 N degrees minutes

Long: 139 30 00 E degrees minutes

(Lat: 35.750 decimal degrees)

(Long: 139.5000 decimal degrees)

 

Note: Castle given to Tokugawa clan 1590; capital of Tokugawa Shogunate 1603; one of largest cities in world 18th cen.; destroyed by earthquake and fire 1923; rebuilt 1930; largely destroyed during World War II; reconstructed & modernized since 1945.

 

Sources:

Getty Vocabulary Program. Thesaurus of Geographic Names (TGN). Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Trust, 1988-. http://www.getty.edu/research/tools/vocabularies/tgn/

TGN ID: 7004472

Page Link: http://vocab.getty.edu/page/tgn/7004472

 

Tokyo (inhabited place)

 

Names:

Tōkyō (preferred) • after replacing Kyoto as Imperial capital, 1898

Tokyo

Tokio • obsolete spelling

Edo • during Tokugawa Shogunate beginning 1603

Yeddo

Yedo

 

Broader Context display:

Capital of • Japan • (nation)

• (World, Asia) [TGN ID: 1000120]

 

Hierarchical position:

World (Facet)

• Asia (continent)

•  • Japan (nation)

•  • • Tōkyō (prefecture)

•  • •  • Tokyo (inhabited place)

 

Place Type:

inhabited place (preferred) •  founded 1456

city

national capital

regional capital

administrative center

financial center

commercial center

industrial center • since late 19th cen.

educational center

tourist center

 

Coordinates:

Lat: 35 45 0 N degrees minutes

Long: 139 30 00 E degrees minutes

(Lat: 35.750 decimal degrees)

(Long: 139.5000 decimal degrees)

 

Note: Castle given to Tokugawa clan 1590; capital of Tokugawa Shogunate 1603; one of largest cities in world 18th cen.; destroyed by earthquake and fire 1923; rebuilt 1930; largely destroyed during World War II; reconstructed & modernized since 1945.

 

Sources:

Getty Vocabulary Program. Thesaurus of Geographic Names (TGN). Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Trust, 1988-. http://www.getty.edu/research/tools/vocabularies/tgn/

ULAN ID: 50063102

Birth Date: 1798 CE

 

Death Date: 1861 CE

 

Nationality: Japanese (preferred)

 

Life Roles:

artist (preferred)

printmaker

painter

illustrator

 

Gender: male

 

Date of Earliest Activity:

 

Date of Latest Activity:

 

Place/Location: Tokyo, Japan

 

Related People and Corporate Bodies:

Relationship Type: Member was

Utagawa school (Japanese printmaking school, 19th century) [ULAN ID: 50404196]

 

Sources:

Getty Vocabulary Program. Union List of Artist Names (ULAN). Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Trust, 1988-. http://www.getty.edu/research/tools/vocabularies/ulan/index.html

Authority Records

Page Link: http://vocab.getty.edu/page/ulan/500063102 

 

Kuniyoshi, Utagawa (Japanese painter, printmaker, and illustrator, 1798 - 1861)

 

Names:

Utagawa Kuniyoshi (preferred)

Utagawa, Kuniyoshi

Kuniyoshi Utagawa

Kuniyoshi

Ichiyūsai

Chō-ō-rō

Chōōrō

Igusa Yoshisaburō

Magosaburō

Ichiyūsai Kuniyoshi

Kuniyoshi, Utagawa

歌川国芳

歌川國芳

קוניושי, אוטגווה

 

Note:

 

Displayed Biography:

(Japanese painter, printmaker, and illustrator, 1798-1861) (preferred)

(artist, 1798-1861)

(Japanese printmaker, 1797-1861)

View Records

Click images to read view records.

View Records
References

References

Fiorillo, J. (1999). Deciphering a Print (Kuniyoshi). Retrieved from https://www.viewingjapaneseprints.net/texts/topics_faq/readingprints.html

 

Pearl, W. (2019). Kuniyoshi Project. Retrieved from http://www.kuniyoshiproject.com/

 

Yoshiwara. (2019). In Wikipedia. Retrieved from https://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=3278688&partId=1

 

Kennedy, P. (2016). Obsessed with Cats: The Ukiyo-e Prints of Utagawa Kuniyoshi. Illustration Chronicles: 175 Years. 175 Stories. Retrieved from https://illustrationchronicles.com/Obsessed-with-Cats-The-Ukiyo-e-Prints-of-Utagawa-Kuniyoshi

 

Utagawa Kuniyoshi. (2019). In Wikipedia. Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utagawa_Kuniyoshi

 

Honolulu Museum of Art. (2012). Arts of the Bedchamber Japanese Shunga. Retrieved from http://shunga.honolulumuseum.org/2012/index.php?status=complete&page=200&language=english&screenWidth=1440&screenHeight=900&browserWidth=1440&browserHeight=740&minTextHeight=541#.Xb9DfZpKgdV

 

Duffy, R. (2014). Tenugui: A cloth without limits: The very Japanese cloth with everyday uses. Tofugu. Retrieved from https://www.tofugu.com/japan/tenugui/

 

Stewart, J. (2018). How to make your own woodblock print like the Japanese masters. My Modern Met. Retrieved from https://mymodernmet.com/woodblock-printing-how-to/

 

Mon (emblem). (2019). In Wikipedia. Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mon_(emblem)

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