Tomioka Eisen - The Hell Courtesan

Tomioka Eisen

This portrait of Jigoku Dayu ('The Hell Courtesan') emanating from mist drifting above a human skull accompanied the novel 'Shiki Soku Ze-ku' serialized in the Bungei Kurabu literary magazine in 1903. The title of the story, 'Shiki Soku Ze-ku,' is based on a Zen Buddhist sutra, the meaning of which can be translated as 'Form is Emptiness' or 'Everything Visible is Empty.'

The Kuchi-e Tradition - Kuchi-e prints are woodblock frontispiece illustrations used in the publication of Japanese novels and magazines around the turn of the 20th century. Most of kuchi-e prints were illustrations of bijin and continued the tradition of idealized beauties in Japanese art. The subjects, however, have a decidedly Meiji era feel about them and reflect the artistic movement towards more western design. Kuchi-e prints always have two folds, because of their insertion in a magazine or book as an illustrative print.

Condition: 2 folds and backed on thin Edo-era paper.

Date: 1903

Publisher: Bungei Kurabu.

Size: Oban tate-e 14 3/8 by 9 3/8 in., 36.6 by 23.7 cm