uchiwa-e
{{short description|Japanese woodblock prints}}
{{Italic title}}
{{nihongo||団扇絵|Uchiwa-e}} are a genre of Japanese {{Transliteration|ja|ukiyo-e}} woodblock print, which appear on rigid, paddle-shaped hand fans known as {{nihongo||団扇|uchiwa}}. Ovoid images matching the outline of {{Transliteration|ja|uchiwa}} were printed on rectangular sheets of {{Transliteration|ja|washi}} rice paper, then cut along the margins and pasted onto a skeletal bamboo frame.Bell 2004, xivMarks 2010, 14
File:Fan Print with two Bugaku Dancers (Utagawa Kunisada).jpg {{Transliteration|ja|uchiwa-e}} print of {{Transliteration|ja|bugaku}} dancers]]
{{Transliteration|ja|Uchiwa}} characteristics
Unlike folding hand fans, which originated in Japan in the 6th or 7th century,Halsey and Friedman 1983, 556 non-folding flat, oval or "bean-shaped"Newland 2005, 431 {{Transliteration|ja|uchiwa}} were a Chinese import. In terms of popular usage, {{Transliteration|ja|uchiwa}} had a close connection with Edo urban culture which gained momentum during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Folding fans, known as {{nihongo||扇|ōgi}}, {{nihongo||末広|suehiro}} or {{nihongo||扇子|sensu}}, remained the dominant accessory within the realm of the sophisticated court culture prevailing in Kyoto at the time.
File:Toyokuni I the actor Ichikawa Ebijuro I.jpg
Historically, {{Transliteration|ja|uchiwa}} were an ostensibly feminine accessory, with men more typically carrying folding fans.Salter 2006, 25{{cite web |url=http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~jwb/cgi-bin/wwwjdic.cgi?1F |title=WWWJDIC: Error exit |access-date=2013-08-05 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130728130955/http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~jwb/cgi-bin/wwwjdic.cgi?1F |archive-date=2013-07-28 }} They were simultaneously fashion accessories and functional items for daily use.Newland 2005, 431 They are strongly associated with summer, having been sold only during the summer months, and often decorated with summer imagery.Salter 2006, 25 At least one critic argues that, due to their use by women during periods of intense heat, {{Transliteration|ja|uchiwa}} "can have suggestive connotations."Salter 2006, 79
{{Transliteration|ja|Uchiwa}} are used by many today as devices for personal cooling, as well as for fanning rice to cool it in the preparation of sushi. More ceremonially, they can still be seen in a number of contexts, including a variety of summer dance performances and as an accessory carried by referees during sumo matches.
{{Transliteration|ja|Uchiwa-e}} history
{{Transliteration|ja|Uchiwa}} with printed designs were first produced in Japan sometime in or prior to the 1680s.Newland 2005, 431 One of the earliest extant examples is a 1684 {{nihongo3|picture book||ehon}} by {{nihongo|Hishikawa Moronobu|菱川師宣}} entitled {{nihongo3|Uchiwa Pictures of Every Variety||Uchiwazukushi}}, which includes illustrations within fan-shaped frames.Newland 2005, 431 Other notable examples placing {{Transliteration|ja|uchiwa-e}} within a socio-historical context are prints by {{nihongo|Suzuki Harunobu|鈴木春信}} from 1767 or 1768 featuring {{Transliteration|ja|uchiwa uri}} (fan sellers), and an 1814 print by Utagawa Kunisada depicting kabuki actor Ichikawa Dannosuke II in the role of a fan vendor.Newland 2005, 432
File:Hishikawa Moronobu - Uchiwae zukushi.jpg
One historical fan vendor whose life is well-recorded is {{nihongo|Ebiya Rinnosuke|海老屋林之助||1832–1895}}. Ebiya printed and sold both fan and standard-sized prints until around 1895. Although Ebiya's publishing house originally commissioned designs from Utagawa Kunisada and Utagawa Kuniyoshi exclusively, they expanded their roster to include other artists from the late 1850s.Marks 2010, 27
During the 19th century, the production of {{Transliteration|ja|uchiwa-e}} and {{Transliteration|ja|ōgi-e}} prints was under the strict control of a guild of fan publishers operating under a system of rules and regulations different from those applying to regular published prints.Newland 2005, 432 Beginning in 1815 and lasting to the end of the Edo period (1603-1868), fan prints were commonly marked with seals indicating their year of publication.Newland 2005, 432
Examples
Most, if not all, major Edo period woodblock print artists worked within the {{Transliteration|ja|uchiwa-e}} medium in addition to with standard prints and illustrated books. {{Transliteration|ja|Uchiwa-e}} designs fall into all of the major categories of prints, including {{Transliteration|ja|yakusha-e}} (actor prints), {{Transliteration|ja|bijin-ga}} (beauties), {{Transliteration|ja|fūkei-ga}} (landscapes), {{Transliteration|ja|kachō-ga}} (nature prints) and {{Transliteration|ja|Musha-e}} (warrior prints).Newland 2005, 431 Some notable {{Transliteration|ja|uchiwa-e}} works which survive in collections today are by Katsukawa Shunshō (1726-1793), Utagawa Toyokuni (1769-1825), Kunisada (1786-1865), Kuniyoshi (1797-1861) and Hiroshige (1797-1858).Newland 2005, 432
{{Transliteration|ja|Uchiwa}} are by definition accessories intended for practical, everyday use. As a result of their frequent handling, few pristine mounted examples of {{Transliteration|ja|uchiwa-e}} remain.Harris 2010, 106 For this reason, art historian Amy Reigle Newland has suggested that {{Transliteration|ja|uchiwa-e}} "are probably among the most elusive of all categories of {{Transliteration|ja|ukiyo-e}} prints to study and collect."Newland 2005, 431
See also
Notes
{{reflist}}
{{Commons category|Uchiwa-e}}
References
{{refbegin}}
- Bell, David. Ukiyo-e Explained. Kent, U.K.: Global Oriental, 2004.
- Halsey, William Darrach and Friedman, Emanuel. "Folding fan." Collier's Encyclopedia, vol. 9. Macmillan Educational Co., 1983.
- Harris, Frederick. Ukiyo-e: The Art of the Japanese Print. Tokyo: Tuttle, 2010.
- Marks, Andreas. Japanese Woodblock Prints: Artists, Publishers and Masterworks 1680-1900. Tokyo: Tuttle, 2010.
- Newland, Amy Reigle. Ed. The Hotei Encyclopedia of Japanese Woodblock Prints. Vol. 2. Amsterdam: Hotei Publishing, 2005.
- Salter, Rebecca. Japanese Popular Prints: From Votive Strips to Playing Cards. London: A & C Black, 2006.
{{refend}}
{{Ukiyo-e}}