Kôso goichidai ryakuzu: Nichiren Walking Barefoot in the Snow

Accession Number
1948/1.169

Title
Kôso goichidai ryakuzu: Nichiren Walking Barefoot in the Snow

Artist(s)
Utagawa Kuniyoshi

Artist Nationality
Japanese (culture or style)

Object Creation Date
1835-1836

Medium & Support
full color woodblock print (nishiki e)

Dimensions
8 3/4 in. x 13 5/8 in. ( 22.23 cm x 34.61 cm )

Credit Line
Bequest of Margaret Watson Parker

Label copy
Utagawa Kuniyoshi is best known to Western collectors for his dramatic renderings of legendary warriors, or for his humorous prints of cats. An exceptionally versatile and prolific artist, he also designed hundreds of landscape prints, offering serious competition to his contemporary, Hiroshige.
Here we have Kuniyoshi at his most lyrical. The tiny figure in red robes, struggling against the drifting snow, is the Buddhist monk Nichiren (1222–1282). An outspoken critic of church and state, he was forced to spend many years in exile on the island of Sado. Here even the forces of nature seem allied against him, as the cold wind whips through his cleric’s robes. The print is from a series illustrating Nichiren’s life
Exhibited in "Japanese Costumes & Ceramics, Past & Present," October 2001-February 2002. Maribeth Graybill, Senior Curator of Asian Art

Primary Object Classification
Print

Primary Object Type
landscape

Collection Area
Asian

Rights
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Keywords
snow
umbrella

& Author Notes

Web Use Permitted