◆ Jiang Feng, chief writer of "Japanese Overseas Chinese Daily".
I like the master of "ukiyo-e" at the end of the Edo period in Japan, Kitagawa Utagawa. When it comes to Japanese "ukiyo-e", many Chinese readers think that it is a Japanese "spring painting", which is really biased. In fact, the Japanese "ukiyo-e" can be translated into Chinese, and it should be called "genre painting". Of course, when the word "customs" is mentioned in Japan, it is inseparable from the content of the word "color".
Kitagawa Utagawa has many "mysteries" on her. For example, the place where he was born is one of the mysteries of his life. Some say he was born in Kawagoe, some say he was born in Edo Castle, others say he was born in Kyoto, in Osaka (today's Osaka), in Omi Province, in Shimono Province, and so on. As long as a person's name, place of birth, time of birth, and origin are not clear, there will always be unspeakable reasons behind it, and social trust and trust will be reduced. Kitagawa Utagawa belongs to this category of people.
Kitagawa Utagawa's early works often have the words "Toyosho Toriyama" or "Toyosho Toriyama" in their inscriptions. I wonder if I like him because he has the word "Feng" in his name and mine. But I don't think I'm so narrow-minded, and I don't love the house and the black like this.
In China, Li Shutong, Liu Haisu, and Xu Beihong, who advocated nude painting, did not know how many bricks they had suffered. In Japan, at the end of the Edo period, Kitagawa Utaki asked Takashimaya Nutayu (the top prostitute) and Osaka Yanoh stars to be mannequins for him. His early famous works are "Qinglou Ren and Jia Female Artist" and "Qinglouer and Jialudao Continuation", and it is not an exaggeration to call him a "brothel painter".
Kitagawa Utagawa's most famous works are probably "Ten Qualities of Women's Physiognomy" and "Ten Bodies of Women's Physiognomy". "The Girl Who Blows the Stick Bottle" in "Ten Products of Women's Appearance", with Japanese national characteristics of the "Shimada-style" bun, wearing a red and white "Ichimatsu pattern" kimono, whining and blowing "stick bottle", that look is vivid, can be called a masterpiece. Some critics say that this painting was influenced by Leonardo da Vinci, but I can't believe it, because this kind of singing and playing scenes can often be seen on the streets of Japanese cities at that time, and this is probably Kitagawa Utagawa's most "down-to-earth" work.
In Japan, many painters have an "anti-bone spirit". He is uninhibited in his behavior, but he still has to have "thoughts", and he has to find ways to show it. Kitagawa Utagawa is like that. In May 1804 (the first year of culture), he painted the earth-shattering engraving "Taiko Luodong Five Wives Traveling to the Viewing Map" (some people will translate it as "The Wives and Concubines of Military Rulers"), which exposed the extravagance, lasciviousness, and decadence of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, one of the "Three Masters of the Warring States", during the cherry blossom viewing period. Is this worth it? The Tokugawa shogunate determined that he was guilty of "mocking the king", that is, to ridicule the lust of the Tokugawa ieki, so he sentenced him to "50 days of handcuffs", that is, 50 days of handcuffs at home. At that time, the Tokugawa shogunate had three kinds of punishments: "30 days of hand locks", "50 days of hand locks", and "100 days of hand locks".
The seemingly bohemian Kitagawa Utara can't withstand this kind of blow in life. On the one hand, he became famous for suffering this punishment, and orders for his paintings flew like snowflakes, and on the other hand, he was indignant that 10,000 grass horses were galloping, and two years later, on September 20, 1806 (the third year of culture). He was 54 years old. Of course, there is also a theory that he did not die of depression, but because of the sudden increase in orders, and died of "death from overwork" in painting.
Kitagawa Utagawa has broken down one "cultural wall" after another in society. But he couldn't break the "cultural wall" in his heart. Suffice it to say this. Fortunately, he was romantic. (May 8, 2024 in Tokyo "Rakuhosai")