Yoshiiku - Old Lovers Quarrel

Utagawa Yoshiiku

An interesting print from the Tokyo Daily Newspaper No. 885. An elderly couple in a jealous spat. An old man who has been having an affair gets pounced on by his wife and daughter.

Narrative: "A long time ago, a sparrow that was sent to Sendai to do something that was not even a wash did something that was not even a flight. There was an old man and an old woman. Also, a tanuki granny who lived alone nearby secretly made the old man a bowl of tanuki soup, but in the end, she was ashamed of herself for the persimmon seeds, and ate rice with her wrinkled hands, and the tongue-cut sparrow, who knew nothing of profit or loss, asked her husband where she was staying, and made flowers bloom on the withered tree. Although it was not ashes, it caught the eye of his legal wife, Old Lady Kendon, and her teeth chattered together. Her chest burned like firewood on her back, and the spicy taste of the pepper miso in her eyes made her husband think of millet dumplings, the best meal in Japan, and her current daughter, who was accompanying him, was also in the heart of Demon's Island. She sneaked into the cave in the storeroom, and just as she was about to get up, a heavy basket as big as a mortar rested on her bottom, preventing her from moving. Meanwhile, the old man had hidden somewhere, pushed aside his layered nightgown, ripped the hairs from his hidden raincoat, and with a hammer he had found the treasure, and laughed, pushed his wooden sword made of a ball into the depths of the cave and killed his enemy. It was her husband who had risen to fame, and this is what a ridiculous story it is."

Condition: Great impression and color. Not backed, margins as shown. Some backing residue on back.

Date: 1874

Genre: Ukiyo-e