Examining Utagawa Kuniyoshi’s Yose-e: The Playfulness and the Grotesque in the Floating World

Research Article
Open access

Examining Utagawa Kuniyoshi’s Yose-e: The Playfulness and the Grotesque in the Floating World

Yijia Chen 1*
  • 1 Humanities, New York University, Shanghai, 200122, China    
  • *corresponding author russet6684@sina.com
CHR Vol.3
ISSN (Print): 2753-7072
ISSN (Online): 2753-7064
ISBN (Print): 978-1-915371-29-4
ISBN (Online): 978-1-915371-30-0

Abstract

Utagawa Kuniyoshi is a highly regarded Japanese woodblock print-making master; most of his works are welcomed by the mass, for they address most aspects of civilians' everyday life in Late Edo Japan. However, some of his works seem set on uncommon themes with distorted expressions that make them less pleasing than simple popular art. This work aims at deciphering Kuniyoshi’s unconventional yose-e woodblock printings by contextualizing his works under the tradition of creating playful and grotesque ukiyo-e during the late Tokugawa period. By using theories of Edo aesthetics in these unattractive, sometimes disturbing images, this essay attempts to locate the cultural position of this relatively obscure branch of Late Edo ukiyo-e designing.

Keywords:

Ukiyo-e, Yose-e, Utagawa Kuniyosh, Woodblock print, Grotesque, Late Tokugawa Period

Chen,Y. (2023). Examining Utagawa Kuniyoshi’s Yose-e: The Playfulness and the Grotesque in the Floating World. Communications in Humanities Research,3,434-441.
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References

[1]. Kohlburn, Joseph Robert. A History of Dissent: Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1797-1861) as Agent of the Edokko Chonin. pp. 3

[2]. Takeuchi, Melinda. “Kuniyoshi’s ‘Minamoto Raikō’ and ‘the Earth Spider’: Demons and Protest in Late Tokugawa Japan.” Ars Orientalis, vol. 17, 1987, pp. 5–38, http://www.jstor.org/stable/4629355. Accessed 15 May 2022.

[3]. “Kitagawa Utamaro.” The History of Creativity. www.historyofcreativity.com/cid549/kitagawa-utamaro. Accessed 15 May 2022.

[4]. Hirano, Katsuya. The Politics of Dialogic Imagination: Power and Popular Culture in Early Modern Japan (Chicago Studies in Practices of Meaning). Illustrated, University of Chicago Press, 2013. pp. 130

[5]. Ibid, pp. 157

[6]. Redjou, Rachael, "Shunga: Erotic Art in the Tokugawa Era" , 2016. Western Libraries Undergraduate Research Award. 10: https://cedar.wwu.edu/library_researchaward/10

[7]. Nara, Hiroshi. The Structure of Detachment: The Aesthetic Vision of Kuki Shuzo. University of Hawai'i Press, 2004. Project MUSE: www.muse.jhu.edu/book/8403.

Cite this article

Chen,Y. (2023). Examining Utagawa Kuniyoshi’s Yose-e: The Playfulness and the Grotesque in the Floating World. Communications in Humanities Research,3,434-441.

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About volume

Volume title: Proceedings of the International Conference on Interdisciplinary Humanities and Communication Studies (ICIHCS 2022), Part 1

ISBN：978-1-915371-29-4(Print) / 978-1-915371-30-0(Online)
Editor：Faraz Ali Bughio, David T. Mitchell
Conference website: https://www.icihcs.org/
Conference date: 18 December 2022
Series: Communications in Humanities Research
Volume number: Vol.3
ISSN：2753-7064(Print) / 2753-7072(Online)

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References

[1]. Kohlburn, Joseph Robert. A History of Dissent: Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1797-1861) as Agent of the Edokko Chonin. pp. 3

[2]. Takeuchi, Melinda. “Kuniyoshi’s ‘Minamoto Raikō’ and ‘the Earth Spider’: Demons and Protest in Late Tokugawa Japan.” Ars Orientalis, vol. 17, 1987, pp. 5–38, http://www.jstor.org/stable/4629355. Accessed 15 May 2022.

[3]. “Kitagawa Utamaro.” The History of Creativity. www.historyofcreativity.com/cid549/kitagawa-utamaro. Accessed 15 May 2022.

[4]. Hirano, Katsuya. The Politics of Dialogic Imagination: Power and Popular Culture in Early Modern Japan (Chicago Studies in Practices of Meaning). Illustrated, University of Chicago Press, 2013. pp. 130

[5]. Ibid, pp. 157

[6]. Redjou, Rachael, "Shunga: Erotic Art in the Tokugawa Era" , 2016. Western Libraries Undergraduate Research Award. 10: https://cedar.wwu.edu/library_researchaward/10

[7]. Nara, Hiroshi. The Structure of Detachment: The Aesthetic Vision of Kuki Shuzo. University of Hawai'i Press, 2004. Project MUSE: www.muse.jhu.edu/book/8403.

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