Page 154 - September 21 2021 Important Japanese Art Christie's NYC

220 UTAGAWA KUNIYOSHI (1797-1861)

Asahina kobitojima asobi

(Asahina playing on the island of
little people)

Woodblock print, triptych, signed Ichiyusai
Kuniyoshi giga on the right and left sheet, circa
1844
Vertical oban triptych: 14¬ x 9√ in. (37.1 x 25.1
cm.) each approx. (3)
$50,000-70,000

This Gulliver's Travel looking triptych depicts the popular Soga
monogatari (Tales of Soga Brothers) character Asahina Shozaburo
Yoshihide as a giant, filling nearly the entire picture. Asahina
was an actual existed samurai from 12th century (Kamakura
Period) and was known for his enormous strength.

In this triptych, Kuniyoshi had him reclining horizontally and
gave him a saruguma face in Kabuki tradition, which is used on
powerful and comical characters. The strong red color draws
viewer's attention to Asahina's face, and from there follows
Asahina's eyes toward the lower section and notices the extremely
small figures walking on a daimyo's procession. Kuniyoshi utterly
demonstrated his talent of satirical pictures in this triptych, as he
illustrated the daimyo, who could be arguably the most poweful
figure a commoner might encounter during Edo Period, as so
impotent and unremarkable.

Kuniyoshi also produced another single sheet print potraying
the giant Asahina surrounded by Edo little people (Museum of
Fine Arts, Boston, 11.36728) and Asahina wrestling with various
strange looking people (MFA, 17.3206.17). Although the first
translation of Guilliver's Travel was not introduced to Japan until
1880, such coincidence of the creations by Utagawa Kuniyoshi
and Johnathan Swift (1667-1745) suggests cross-cultural common
grounds.