Tsukioka Yoshitoshi (月岡芳年) (artist 04/30/1839 – 06/09/1892)

Songokū (Sun Wukong) blows his fur into the air (Gokū fuku ke - 悟空吹毛) above Jō and Uba (Jō kumi[suru] Uba, 尉與姥) from the series Sketches by Yoshitoshi (Yoshitoshi ryakuga - 芳年 略画)

Print

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Date:1882
Inscription:Signed: Yoshitoshi (芳年)
Artist's seal: Taiso
Links Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Museum für angewandte Kunst, Vienna - top half only
Philadelphia Museum of Art - bottom only
Philadelphia Museum of Art - top only
Shizuoka Prefectural Central Library
Museum für angewandte Kunst, Vienna - bottom half only
Royal Museums of Art and History, Belgium (via Cultural Japan) - bottom half only
Wellcome Collection (via Europeana)
Mead Art Museum at Amherst College Description:In Chapter 2 of The Journey to the West, translated by Anthony C. Yu, volume I, University of Chicago Press, 2012, pages 128-129, it says:

"The Monstrous King shifted his position and struck out. Wukong closed in on him, hurling himself into the engagement. The two of them pummeled and kicked, struggling and colliding with each other. It is easy to miss on a long reach, but a short punch is firm and reliable. Wukong jabbed the Monstrous King in the short ribs, hit him on his chest, and gave him such heavy punishment with a few sharp blows that the monster stepped aside, picked up his huge scimitar, aimed it straight at Wukong's head, and slashed at him. Wukong dodged, and the blow narrowly missed him. Seeing that his opponent was growing fiercer, Wukong now used the method called the Body beyond the Body. Plucking a handful of hairs from his own body and throwing them into his mouth, he chewed them into tiny pieces and then spat them into the air. "Change!" he cried, and they changed at once into two or three hundred little monkeys encircling the combattants on all sides. For you see, when someone acquires the body of an immortal he can project his spirit, change his form, and perform all kinds of wonders. Since the Monkey King had become accomplished in the Way, every one of the eighty-four thousand hairs on his body could change into whatever change or substance he desired. The little monkeys he had just created were so keen of eye and swift of movement that they could be wounded by neither sword not spear. Look at them! Skipping and jumping they rushed at the Monstrous King and surrounded him, some hugging, some pulling, some crawling between his legs, some tugging at his feet. They kicked and punched; they yanked at his hair and poked at his eyes; they pinched his nose and tried to sweep him completely off his feet, until they tangled themselves into confusion."

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The monkey king Songokū, from the Chinese story "Journey to the West," creates an army by plucking out his fur and blowing it into the air - each hair becomes a new monkey-warrior. Jō and Uba represent longevity and marital harmony, immortalized in the Noh play "Takasago" in which the old man and aged woman's spirits come to reside in pine trees.

The series illustrates episodes from Japanese folklore and history in a light-hearted manner.

All of the prints are chūbans (printed in pairs on ōban sheets). They were published by Funazu Chūjirō (Marks 077). Sketches by Yoshitoshi (Yoshitoshi ryakuga - 芳年 略画) is how this series is popularly known, but there is no real title to this publication.

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There is another copy in the Shizuoka Prefectural Central Library. The Worcester Art Museum has a copy of only the top half of this sheet.

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The top half of the sheet is listed in Beauty and Violence: Japanese Prints by Yoshitoshi 1839-1892 by Eric van den Ing and Robert Schaap, Society for Japanese Art, 1992, #42:15, p. 127. The bottom half is listed at #42:16.
Related entities Funazu Chūjirō (船津忠次郎) (publisher)
Yūrei-zu (幽霊図 - ghosts demons monsters and spirits) (genre)
magicians (mahōtsukai - 魔法使い) (genre)

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