Lot 143: Onna fuzoku tsu gajo (Album of a connoiseur of trendy female fashion), 1820

Utagawa Kuninaga (D.1829), Ota Nanpo (Shokusanjin, 1749-1823) and others
Onna fuzoku tsu gajo (Album of a connoiseur of trendy female fashion), 1820
Paintings: each signed Kuninaga ga, sealed Kuninaga or Kuninaga and Ichiunsai; poems: signed and sealed variously; preface: signed and dated Bunsei kanoe-tatsu toshi fuzuki (Seventh month, 1820) Noan Ichi'o and with kao (cursive monogram); colophon: signed Saimaran Sadaoka, sealed Saima and Sadaoka
Twenty-two paintings, twenty-two poems, three-page preface and three-page colophon mounted as an accordion album; paintings: ink, color, silver and gold on silk; poems, preface and colophon: ink on silk
11¼ x 8¼in. (28.5 x 21cm.) each

Hekiun sanbo

This album includes twenty-two paintings by Kuninaga and poems by talented kyoka ("mad verse") poets who were wealthy merchants or samurai in Edo, in the Bunka-Bunsei eras (1804-29). The paintings show fashion trends of women of various professions, with poems. Two lists accompany this album; one shows which poets wrote for what type of woman, the other gives their real name, occupation and address:

Rokujuen Meshimori (Nakamuraya Umetaro, tool shop, Reiganjima Shiomachi): Ichiko (Shinto dancer); Shuchodo Monoya (Iseya Rihei, print publishing house, Shiba Shin-Sakanacho): Tosho (noble woman); Chosado Bakin (Takizawa Seiemon, calligraphy teacher, Iidamachi Nakasaka shita): Himegimi (princess); Garyudo Umemaru (Shimaya Seiemon, ceramics shop, Honjo Enishimachi yonchome): Okujochu (maid for high-ranking samurai); Danshuro Enba (Izumiya [Tatekawa] Wasuke, sock shop, Honjo Aioicho yonchome): Adamusume (party girl); Asakusaan Ichindo (Iseya Kyuemon, pawnbroker, Asakusa Tawaracho nichome): Toshima (old woman); Shokatei Fuenari (Ogiya Kohei, tea house, Asakusa Nijukken): Goke (widow); Shotosai Arimake (Aoshima Ittei, calligraphy teacher, Fukagawa Tokiwamachi Mirokuji mae): Odoriko (dancer); Shinratei Bansho (Fukushima Harima, rice cake shop, Sakurada Kubocho): Chaya onna (tea house waitress); Shosuitei Into (Nishonomiya Sukejuro, fish monger, Nihonbashi Honfunecho): Miko (Shinto attendant); Sakuragawa Jihinari (Sakuragawa Daigoro, menuki [sword fitting] maker, Shiba Shinmeicho): Azusamiko (sorceress); Noan Ichio ([real name and occupation missing], Nihonbashi Honfunecho): Edo geisha and jo (preface); Haikairyo Fukuo (Wada Chujiro'o, retired house repairer, Honjo Matsuzakacho): Kyo geiko (geisha in Kyoto); Saibara Sadaoka (Waraya Chozaemon, pawnbroker, Fukagawa Morishitacho Iyobashi dori): Tsujigimi (street prostitute) and batsu (colophon); Honchoan [Shikitei] Sanba (Nishinomiya Tasuke, tea shop, Honcho nichome): Koichime (old female merchant); Dondontei Wataru (Musashiya Shinroku, landlord, Kanda Koyanagicho sanchome): Fukagawa geisha ; Akerakan Kikumaru (Maruya Denjiro, charcoal dealer, Teppozu kashi dori): Gionmachi geigi (geisha in Gion, Kyoto); San'yodo San'yo (Kojima Ichiemon, retainer of Chimura Heiemon, Shiba Shogencho): ...kawa joro (courtesan in ...kawa); Shakuyakutei Nagane (Hon'ami Saburobei, [occupation missing], Shitaya Sanmaibashi): Maruyama yujo (courtesan in Maruyama, Nagasaki); Santoan Kyozan (Kyoya Denzo, tobacco shop, Kyobashi Ginza nichome): Gioncho Tayama (courtesan in Tayama in Gion, Kyoto); Shokusanjin (Ota Naojiro'o [Nanpo], treasury official, Surugadai Odaidokoromachi): Yoshiwara keisei (courtesan in Yoshiwara); Kyokado Magao (Kitagawa Kahei, landlord, Sukiyagashi Moto-Sukiyacho nichome): Shimabara joro (courtesan in Shimabara).

For other examples of collaboration by the kyoka poets and ukiyo-e painters Ikkei and Eishi, see lots 138 and 139.