Mirror of the Twenty-four Paragons of Filial Piety
(Nijûshi-kô dôji kagami)
Publishers: Wakasa-ya Yoichi
and Shiba Shimmeimae
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 Chinese name:
T’a Shun Legend:
Despite a neglectful father who favored his cruel step-mother
and her son, Taishun cultivated land for his
parents on Publisher:
Wakasa-ya Yoichi 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 Chinese name:
Mêng Tsung 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. Publisher:
Wakasa-ya Yoichi 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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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. Publisher:
Wakasa-ya Yoichi Robinson:
S13.3 Image courtesy of Marie de Strycker |
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Japanese name:
Sôshin Chinese name:
Tsêng Ts’an 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). Publisher:
Wakasa-ya Yoichi Robinson:
S13.4 |
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Japanese name:
Ôshô 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. Publisher:
Wakasa-ya Yoichi 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. Publisher:
Wakasa-ya Yoichi Robinson:
S13.6 |
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Japanese name:
Kyôshi Chinese name:
Chiang Shih 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. Publisher:
Wakasa-ya Yoichi 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 Chinese name:
T’ang Fu-jên Legend: Tô-fujin (also known as wife Tang) suckled her toothless
grandmother at her breasts. Publisher:
Wakasa-ya Yoichi Robinson:
S13.8 |
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Japanese name:
Yôkyô Chinese name:
Yang Hsiang Legend: Yôkyô 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, Yôkyô protectively jumped in front of his father and thus scared off the
tiger with his show of determined will. Publisher:
Wakasa-ya Yoichi Robinson: S13.9 |
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Japanese name:
Tôyei Chinese name:
Tung Yung Legend: Tôyei 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. Publisher:
Wakasa-ya Yoichi Robinson:
S13.10 Image courtesy of Richard Illing |
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Japanese name:
Kwakkyo Chinese name:
Kuo Chü 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. Publisher:
Wakasa-ya Yoichi Robinson:
S13.11 |
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Another state of the above
print |
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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 Chinese name:
Lu Chi 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. Publisher:
Wakasa-ya Yoichi Robinson:
S13.12 |
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Japanese name:
Gomô 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. Publisher:
Wakasa-ya Yoichi Robinson:
S13.13 Image courtesy of Richard Illing |
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Japanese name:
Ôhô Chinese name:
Wang P’ou Legend: Ôhô would rush to his mother’s grave during thunder storms to comfort her spirit, because she had
feared lightning while alive. Publisher:
Wakasa-ya Yoichi Robinson:
S13.14 |
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Japanese name:
Yenshi Chinese name:
Yen Tzu Legend:
Yenshi 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 Yenshi is being shot at from a wooded hill by a hunter of
markedly European appearance. Publisher:
Shiba Shimmeimae Robinson:
Not listed |
‘Robinson’ refers to listing in Kuniyoshi: The Warrior-Prints by Basil William Robinson (Cornell University Press, Ithaca, NY, 1982) and its unpublished supplement.
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