Takiyasha the Witch and the Skeleton Spectre PDF

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Takiyasha the Witch and the Skeleton Spectre

Ivanna N. Giron ARH 2051 December 3, 2016

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Utagawa Kuniyoshi, Takiyasha the Witch and the Skeleton Spectre, (c. 1843-1847), woodblock print is a thoroughly detailed illustration created to tell the story of Princess Takiyasha, daughter of the warlord Taira Masakado.1 The print dates back to the Edo period in Japan where engaging portrayals of historical stories, urban legends, and plays were popular subjects for artist.2 This is comparable to manga, which are drawings that incorporate a long and solid tradition of jabbing fun at society and mocking the wealthy and powerful. Utagawa Kuniyoshi’s illustrations often times infused its own social political commentary as well. Therefore, it could possibly be argued Kuniyoshi’s, Takiyasha the Witch and the Skeleton Spectre, is an important ancestor to modern day satirical and narrative comics known as manga. Takiyasha the Witch and the Skeleton Spectre chromatic display, abnormal funniness, and phenomenal creative energy of the nineteenth century Japanese customs of shading woodblock jumps at you. Everything is intense, astounding, and freeing. In this print, a gigantic skeleton is climbing from the empty black background into the foreground. It approaches two men who appear to be warriors. The men look distraught as they are being approached by the skeleton. The man on the left side holds a bamboo stick over the other warrior in attempt to protect him from danger. Equally important, on the far left side a woman is seen standing, holding a scroll. The woman's eyes are focused on the skeleton and her face looks determined. Ultimately the viewer is in a position to put together a narrative of what’s happening in this piece of art without prior knowledge of the subject. While there appears to be no word bubbles or onomatopoeia popping out beside the characters in Kuniyoshi’s painting, he does show a sequence of events, happening 1 "Takiyasha the Witch and the Skeleton Spectre | Kuniyoshi, Utagawa | V&A Search the Collections," Kuniyoshi, Utagawa | V&A Search the Collections, October 30, 2016, 1, accessed December 04, 2016, http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O73119/takiyasha-the-witch-and-thetriptych-kuniyoshi-utagawa/. 2 Thompson, Sarah. "The World of Japanese Prints." Philadelphia Museum of Art Bulletin 82, no. 349/350 (1986): 1-47. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3795440.(3)

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one after another as the eyes gaze the woodblock from right to left. This practice of reading images from right to left still exists in modern manga. The print succeeds in its ability to tell a story by simple expressions and placement of the characters. Fantasy is prominent in Kuniyoshi’s work3. He is able to establish a new realm by color and line. The main colors he uses for Takiyasha the Witch and the Skeleton Spectre are red, blue, white, black, and tan4. Although the colors seem dull, Utagawa Kuniyoshi accomplished to give the print vitality. He does this by painting the background black and painting all of the characters in a light bone color, making the characters pop. Kuniyoshi also was able to control where your eyes flow by creating a straw like curtain that comes out to the viewer from the left bottom corner and guides the eye to the top left. It is also important to note that the massive skeletons’ bones create an arrow guiding the viewer towards the warriors. It can be concluded that the skeleton is only after the men, not the woman that stands on the left side of the print. With these hints it is easy to imagine the skeleton came to attack the men upon the woman's summoning. Kuniyoshi gives the viewer a visual treat and that’s what manga illustrators strive for nowadays. Print-makers during the Edo period attended plays for inspiration or read books that were available to them.5 “The scene appearing here is from a popular novel called the Story of Utö Yasutaka, written by Santö Kyöden in 1807. After gaining magical powers from a mountain hermit, Princess Takiyasha, the legendary daughter of Taira Masakado (10th century), tried to form a conspiracy against her father’s killer.”6 Therefore, Takiyasha (the woman that appears on 3 Theodore Bowie. (1961). A Note on the Skeleton in Japanese Art. Art Journal, 21(1), 16-18. doi:1. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/774292 doi:1(3) 4 Sarah Thompson. "The World of Japanese Prints." Philadelphia Museum of Art Bulletin 82, no. 349/350 (1986): 1-47. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3795440. (4) 5 Hugo Munsterberg. 1957. The arts of Japan: an illustrated history. Tokyo: Charles E. Tuttle Co. (156) 6 "Honolulu Museum of Art," Honolulu Museum of Art » Takiyasha the Witch and the Skeleton

Specter from the Story of Utö Yasutaka, 1, accessed December 04, 2016,

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the left) did in fact summon the massive skeleton to avenge her father. It is important to realize that the viewer does not need to read the narrative to decipher the tale being painted. Kuniyoshi excelled at pictorial narratives as a result his technique is still recognized by modern artist. Even though Westerners have picked up on Kuniyoshi’s style, he himself picked up a few things from the Westerners. Before the Edo period, Japan was secluded from other countries and every aspect of political and social life was under the spec of the government.7 Artist were limited to knowledge and solely depended on their surroundings. When the ruler Tokugawa Ieyasu died, the rules against learning were moderate in order to stimulate growth in the country's industry.8 This lead to the Dutch being allowed on Japanese soil. With them came scientific knowledge like navigation, shipbuilding, and anatomy.9 Kuniyoshi was said to have owned a copy of a book that described Western anatomical drawings. For this reason, he was one of the first artist in Japan to draw an accurate human skeleton. Japanese art was in a position to evolve even further for this reason woodblock prints like Utagawa Kuniyoshi’s, Takiyasha the Witch and the Skeleton Spectre, was able to have a considerable influence on modern manga.

http://honolulumuseum.org/art/10270. 7 Ibid, 144 8 Ibid, 144 9 Ibid, 145

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Bibliography Bowie, T. (1961). A Note on the Skeleton in Japanese Art. Art Journal, 21(1), 16-18. doi:1. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/774292 doi:1 "Honolulu Museum of Art." Honolulu Museum of Art » Takiyasha the Witch and the Skeleton Specter from the Story of Utö Yasutaka. Accessed December 04, 2016. http://honolulumuseum.org/art/10270. Munsterberg, Hugo. 1957. The arts of Japan: an illustrated history. Tokyo: Charles E. Tuttle Co. "Takiyasha the Witch and the Skeleton Spectre | Kuniyoshi, Utagawa | V&A Search the Collections." Kuniyoshi, Utagawa | V&A Search the Collections. October 30, 2016. Accessed December 04, 2016. http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O73119/takiyasha-the-witch-and-the-triptych-kuniyoshi utagawa/. Thompson, Sarah. "The World of Japanese Prints." Philadelphia Museum of Art Bulletin 82, no. 349/350 (1986): 1-47. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3795440.

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