Mirror of the Twenty-four
Paragons of Filial Piety
(Nijûshi-kô dôji kagami, 二十四孝童子鑑)
Publisher: Wakasa-ya Yoichi
(若狭屋与市)
1840
The
book entitled The Twenty-four Paragons of
Filial Piety was written by the Chinese scholar Guo
Jujing during the Yuan Dynasty. His pen name was Yizi,
and he is known in
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Japanese name:
Taishun (大舜) Chinese name:
T’a Shun (Dashun) Legend:
Despite a neglectful father who favored his cruel step-mother and her son, Taishun cultivated land for his parents on Robinson:
S13.1 |
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This is an example of the
other known edition of the above print.
The patterns of bokashi (graded coloration) in the
foreground, sky and hills are very different. Image courtesy of Richard Illing |
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Japanese name:
Môsô (孟宗) Chinese name:
Mêng Tsung (Meng Zong) Legend: Môsô fulfilled his sick mother’s wish to eat bamboo
shoots in mid-winter by journeying to a snow covered bamboo grove, where
after praying, he miraculously found a huge cache of delicious bamboo shoots
beneath the snow. Here he is carrying
a hoe through the snow. Robinson:
S13.2 |
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This is a badly faded print
of the same design. It illustrates the
principle that different colored inks fade at different rates. The natural colorants used for the reds,
yellows and browns are barely visible, whereas the blues and blacks are
virtually unchanged. The blue pigment
is the chemical, ferric-ferrocyanide, an early
import into |
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This is an example of
another state of the above design. The
patterns of bokashi (graded coloration), especially in
the foreground, are
very different. |
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Japanese name:
Binshiken Chinese name:
Min-tzu-ch’ien Legend: Binshiken entreated his father to have mercy on the
former’s new stepmother after his father found out that Binshiken
was being mistreated. Here Binshiken is sweeping snow outside the house where his
stepmother stands with her two younger biologic children. Robinson:
S13.3 Image courtesy of Marie de Strycker |
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Japanese name:
Sôshin (曾参) Chinese name:
Tsêng Ts’an (Zeng Can) Legend: Sôshin was gathering wood in the forest one day when his
mother back at home bit her own finger in anger at her son’s absence. Feeling his mother’s pain, he immediately
returned home. Here Sôshin is hurrying home across a bridge to aid his mother
(in the foreground). Robinson:
S13.4 |
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Japanese name:
Ôshô (王祥) Chinese name:
Wang Hsiang Legend: When
his stepmother wanted to eat fresh fish in mid-winter, Ôshô
went to a frozen pond and lay naked on the ice until it melted in order to
catch fish for her. Here he is fishing
in the snow with two relatives admiring the fish he has just caught. Robinson:
S13.5 Image courtesy of Richard Illing |
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Japanese name:
Rôraishi Chinese name: Lao Lai Tzu Legend: At
age 70, Rôraishi still dressed and behaved like a
young child to amuse his senile parents.
Here he is playing with children’s toys. Robinson:
S13.6 |
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Japanese name:
Kyôshi (姜詩) Chinese name:
Chiang Shih (Jiang Shi) Legend: Kyôshi, along with his wife, traveled great distances to
get good water and fresh carp desired by his aged mother. However, one day a fresh spring suddenly
bubbled up in their own garden and provided excellent water as well as
fish. Here Kyôshi
is netting a fish in the river that formed outside his mother’s cottage. Robinson:
S13.7 |
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These are two simplified
and less labor intensive later printing of the above design. The delicate shading (bokashi) in the sky, horizon,
mountain, roofs and water has been simplified or eliminated. Bokashi was achieved by hand-applying a gradation of ink to
the wooden printing block rather than inking the block uniformly. This hand-application had to be repeated
for each sheet of paper that was printed.
Although not bokashi,
the complex pattern of two solid colors for the rocks and earth in the
foreground has also been simplified. |
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Japanese name:
Tô-fujin (唐夫人) Chinese name:
T’ang Fu-jên (Tang Furen) Legend: Tô-fujin (also known as wife Tang) suckled her toothless
grandmother at her breasts. Robinson:
S13.8 |
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Japanese name:
Yo Ko (楊沓) Chinese name:
Yang Hsiang (Yang Xiang) Legend: Yo Ko at 14 years of age was accompanying his father into the mountains
when a hungry tiger leapt out at them.
Without thinking of his own life, Yo Ko protectively jumped in front of his
father and thus scared off the tiger with his show of determined will. Robinson: S13.9 |
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Japanese name:
To Ei (董永) Chinese name:
Tung Yung (Dong Yong) Legend: To
Ei indentured himself to a weaver in order to raise
money for his father’s burial. One day
he met a woman who, in the first hour after their marriage, wove enough silk
to fulfill the terms of his contract and then revealed herself to be the
Heavenly Weaver (Shokujo) before ascending to
heaven. Robinson:
S13.10 Image courtesy of Richard Illing |
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Another state of the above
design |
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Japanese name:
Kwakkyo (郭巨) Chinese name:
Kuo Chü (Guo Ju) Legend: Kwakkyo, lamenting the fact that his aged mother was
going hungry because food was being eaten by his infant son, prepared to kill
the baby. While digging the grave he
discovered a pot of gold with an attached note (or inscription) that the
treasure was meant for him. Robinson:
S13.11 |
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Another state of the above
print |
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Yet another state |
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This is a key block print for the above design. It is an impression pulled from the first
woodblock made by a carver from the artist’s original drawing. The artist would write instructions for
each color on a separate key block print, and the woodblock for each color
was cut using one of these as a guide.
Registration marks (kento) are characteristically found on Japanese key block
prints (the ‘L’ in the left lower corner and the bar on the right side of the
bottom margin). Kento are cut in each
woodblock, so that the paper can be properly aligned on each woodblock during
printing. In addition to being a guide for carving the color
woodblocks, the key block was also used to apply black ink (usually) in the
printing process. |
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Japanese name:
Rikuseki (陸績) Chinese name:
Lu Chi (Lu Ji) Legend:
When Rikuseki was six years old, he was invited to the
home of a wealthy neighbor where he was given some persimmons, which he
slipped into his robes. Upon leaving,
the fruit fell out of his robes, and Rikuseki
explained that he intended to take them home for his mother. Here Rikuseki
stoops to pick up the fallen persimmons. Robinson:
S13.12 |
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Japanese name:
Gomô (呉猛) Chinese name:
Wu Mêng Legend:
Eight-year-old Gomô would let himself be bitten by
mosquitoes to spare his sleeping parents.
Here he is carrying a smoking pot to keep mosquitoes away from his
sleeping father. Robinson:
S13.13 Image courtesy of Richard Illing |
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Another state of the above
design |
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Japanese name:
Ôhô (王褒) Chinese name:
Wang P’ou (Wang Bao) Legend: Ôhô would rush to his mother’s grave during thunder
storms to comfort her spirit, because she had feared lightning while alive. Robinson:
S13.14 |
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Japanese name:
Enshi Chinese name:
Yen Tzu Legend: Enshi disguised himself in a deer skin in order to
capture a doe, which he could milk in order to cure his parents’ eye
disease. Hidden in the deer herd, he
was mistaken for a deer by hunters who roundly scolded him. However, when they heard his explanation the
hunters had only praise. Here Enshi is being shot at from a wooded hill by a hunter of
markedly European appearance. Robinson:
Not listed |
“Robinson” refers to listing in Kuniyoshi: The Warrior-Prints by Basil William Robinson (Cornell University Press, Ithaca, NY, 1982) and its privately published supplement.
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