Posted by Dan (24.59.72.128) on March 24, 2004 at 04:36:15:
In Reply to: Re: Japanese Drawing posted by Arnold on March 20, 2004 at 21:21:07:
Hi Arnold,
It was nice talking to you today. I forgot to ask for your email address though! Anyway, the kids are in bed, I have seen the drawing now, and have some further comments.
This image is very interesting! It is an ukiyo-e style parody of the "Three Tasters"--a Chinese parable. In the original, the Buddha, Confucius and Lao-Tze dip their fingers in the same cup of wine, each finding the taste remarkably different (according to the teachings of each religion on the nature of human life, sweet for Lao-Tze, bitter for Buddha etc.) There is a very similar print to this made for the calendar exchanges of 1765, by Harunobu (see Hillier's Suzuki Harunobu, p.56-57) but your drawing is in an early nineteanth century style. The signature is actually "73-year old Shokusanjin", so that would date the work (or at least the poem) to around 1821 (Ota Nampo was born in 1749, but by traditional Japanese counting he was already 1 in that year.) I couldn't make out the entire poem, but it refers to the tasters, with the first line on licking/tasting, the second "sweet or dry," and the closing mentioning "my dear three holies". The notation, which I could also make out only in parts, seems to be partly colors ("aka"/"red" was clear in several spots) but also longer notes (such as the pattern on the sleeve).
Anyway, I think this is a culturally rich piece, full of interest, and those issues are always more important to me than attribution for its own sake. Enjoy it!
Dan