Utamaro - Kasen Koi no Bu

Kitagawa Utamaro Collection

Kasen Koi no Bu 

(歌撰恋之部, "Anthology of Poems: The Love Section")

ARTIST:  Kitagawa Utamaro (c. 1753–1806)
FORMAT: A series of five nishiki-e multicolour woodblock prints in ōban size, about 39 by 25 centimetres (15 in × 10 in) and have reproduced on 170gsm white A3 paper with approx 2cm border. The original backgrounds are dusted with glittering beni-kira, a dust made of lepidolite, a rose-coloured type of mica, used to emphasize the theme of love.
PUBLISHED BY:  Tsutaya Jūzaburō ca. 1793–94
NOTES:The series is on the theme of love, and each print was printed by Tsutaya Jūzaburō using luxrious techniques such as dusting the backgrounds with rose-coloured mica. In 2016 the print Fukaku Shinobu Koi set the record price for an ukiyo-e print sold at auction at €745000. Compared to Utamaro's similar earlier series "Fujin Sōgaku Jittai and Fujo Ninsō Juppin", the faces are much more close up, and the facial features and expressions more individuated and finely detailed. By focusing on the theme of love in Kasen Koi no Bu, Utamaro challenges himself to express the inner emotional states of his subjects. The prints in this series have garnered particularly favourable praise amongst Utamaro's large body of work.

Only one of the images provide us with a glimpse of flesh however Utamaro has still provided us with a set of sensual images with hints of erotisism due to the colours and printing techniques to bring out faces and expressions.

Mare ni Au Koi

The woman in Mare ni Au Koi (稀ニ逢恋, "love that rarely meets") appears quite young and sheltered; she is probably in her teens. She wears an ornate kushi-kanzashi comb-shaped hairpin and bashfully sticks her fingers just barely from the sleeve of her kimono. The title refers not to a woman who rarely meets her lover, but to a shy young woman inexperienced in love, and her expression is the most withdrawn in the series.

 

Mono-omoi Koi

The woman in Mono-omoi Koi (物思恋, "reflective love" or "anxious love") has her eyebrows shaved—sign of a married woman. She appears to be the eldest in the series—perhaps even middle-aged —and to come from an affluent background. She wears an elegant, subdued kimono with a pattern of plovers.
The woman rests her right cheek lightly on the back of her right hand and narrows her eyes in thought. In line with the theme of the series, she must be pondering love—perhaps an illegitimate lover or old memories of love. Some consider it the finest example from the series, and others suggest the picture pairs with Fukaku Shinobu Koi.

 

Fukaku Shinobu Koi

The woman in Fukaku Shinobu Koi (深く忍恋, "deeply hidden love") has blackened her teeth with ohaguro, which normally signifies a married woman, but she lacks the shaved eyebrows that would also signify her being married; she is perhaps yet young and recently married. Her ornate kanzashi hairpin has a flower design on it. She looks down and holds a kiseru tobacco pipe in her right hand. She stares off, her shoulders raised, eyes narrowed, and tiny lips pursed, as if in deep, emotional mid-sigh.
The title suggests the woman may be pondering a risky affair. Utamaro uses a limited number of colours in the print; the deep blacks of the protective collar around her kimono and her large, rounded hairstyle draws the attention, contrasting with the white of the woman's face and nape of her neck.
In 2016 Fukaku Shinobu Koi set the record price for an ukiyo-e print sold at auction at €745000.

 

Arawaruru Koi

 

Arawaruru Koi (あらはるる恋, "obvious love") presents the most openly sensual print in the series. The plump, sensual woman seems to care little that her kimono is open, exposing a breast. Her hairdo is in disarray, the kanzashi hairpin at the front about to fall off, and she holds one of the hairpins in her left hand. She appears to be looking down outside the frame of the print, perhaps in mid-conversation. The term arawaruru koi refers to a love so wholehearted that it expresses itself in the subject's face and mannerisms.

 

Yogoto ni Au Koi

 

The woman in Yogoto ni Au Koi (夜毎ニ逢恋, "love that meets each night") raises her eyes in delight as she holds a letter out from the breast pocket of her kimono. The title suggests it is from a lover, perhaps calling her to another of their nightly trysts. Utamaro gives his subject a noble air and features pays close attention to realistic details of her face, such as the shape of her eyebrows and loose hairs straggling about.