Utagawa Kunisada (歌川国貞) / Toyokuni III (三代豊国) (artist 1786 – 01/12/1865)
Figures in Edo Purple: The Hahakigi Chapter (Edo Murasaki sugata no Hahakigi - 江戸紫すかたのはゝきゞ) - a Rustic Genji theme
1849
30 in x 14 in (Overall dimensions) color woodblock print; ōban triptych
Signed: Toyokuni ga (豊国画)
Publisher: Sanoya Kihei (Marks 446 - seal 25-210)
Censors: Fuku and Muramatsu
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Tokyo Metropolitan Library - center and right panels only
Victoria and Albert Museum - center panel only The parsing of Japanese prints is often a wonderful and mysterious process. For example, this triptych is clearly a mitate of Chapter 2 (Hahakigi or 'the Broomtree') of the original Tale of Genji. But sometimes mitate are not cut and dried and operate on more than one level at the same time. To wit, the figure of Mitsuuji, the Rustic Genji, on the right, is wearing a purple robe decorated with three sasarindō crests. At first glance this was puzzling until we remembered that this mon was used by part of the Minamoto clan and the Minamoto were also referred to a Genji, albeit a different Genji than that of that famous novel created by Lady Murasaki Shikibu.
The translation of the term hahakigi is 'broom tree', but this is difficult to pin down exactly. Some translate the term as a Japanese cypress. As you can see there is a rather robust tree along the left side of the middle panel. It is hung with a shimenawa indicating that it is a sacred site. Another argument against its being a cypress is the fact that the leaves appear to be those of ginkgo tree. Not that any of this matters all that much, but it is a bit of a disconnect between the description of this triptych and the elements within it.
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This triptych is listed but not illustrated in Andreas Marks Genji's World in Japanese Woodblock Prints. It appears at G#166.
Sanoya Kihei (佐野屋喜兵衛) (publisher)
Genji related prints (Genji-e - 源氏絵) (genre)