Muromachi Period

This video is a part of Japanese Art History Series by Little Art Talks.

The Muromachi period (室町時代 Muromachi jidai, also known as the Muromachi era, the Ashikaga era, or the Ashikaga period) is a division of Japanese history running from approximately 1336 to 1573. 

Utamaro - Portraits of Ohisa of the Takashima Teashop

Kitagawa Utamaro Collection

Ohisa of the Takashima Teashop

All reproduced close to original dimensions on 170gsm white paper with satin finish

Ohisa was a favourite of many of the ukiyo-e painters however for Utamaro she was a particular favourite and many prints were produced.

Ohisa was the daughter of the proprietor of the Takashima tea shop(s) in Edo and seems to have made her reputation serving tea at the family shop near Ryōgoku Bridge.

Size: Ōban (38.1x24.8cm)

On this print her beauty is celebrated in the poem, top right, by Karabana Tadaaya. The translation reads:

Charms and tea are brimming over
And neither gets cold!
Let me not wake
From this lucky dream of the New Year
At Takashimaya.

Ohisa turns to glance questioningly at someone just outside the picture. Her black gauze kimono has a pattern of yellow and white flashes, and the neck-line is carefully arranged to reveal the back of her neck, Utamaro was a master of capturing the female beauty especially the back of the neck. Her obi (sash) has a design of a plover wheeling above stylized waves. The fan bears the triple oak-leaf family crest (mon) of the Takashima family.

Takashima Ohisa Using Two Mirrors to Observe Her Coiffure

Night of the Asakusa Marketing Festival

Size: Ōban 14.25 × 9.875 in (36.2 × 25.1 cm)

ca. 1795 - This print sold for $138k at Christies

Osen of the Kagiya and Ohisa of Takashim

Size: Ōban; 39 x 26 cm (15 3/8 x 10 1/4 in.)
Publisher Tsuruya Kiemon (Senkakudô)

ca. 1793-4
Osen at the Kagiya Teahouse by the Gate of the Kasamori Shrine hands Ohisa a scroll.

Size: Ōban; 39 x 26 cm (15 3/8 x 10 1/4 in.)
Publisher Tsuruya Kiemon (Senkakudô)

ca. 1793-4
Osen at the Kagiya Teahouse by the Gate of the Kasamori Shrine hands Ohisa a scroll (I wonder what is in that scroll and who it is from?)

 

Takashima Ohisa

 

 

Three Beauties of the Present Day (Tôji san bijin):

Tomimoto Toyohina, Naniwaya Kita, Takashima Ohisa.
The print is also known under the titles Three Beauties of the Kansei Era (寛政三美人 Kansei San Bijin) and Three Famous Beauties (高名三美人 Kōmei San Bijin)
 Nishiki-e colour woodblock print 37.9 cm × 24.9 cm (14.9 in × 9.8 in)
Published by Tsutaya Jūzaburō

 

 

Five Beauties Playing Go 

(from right): Tachibanaya Otatsu, Naniwaya Okita, Tomimoto Toyohina, Takashima Ohisa, Hiranoyo Oseyo

囲碁を囲む五美人　「橘屋おたつ　難波屋おきた　富本豊雛　高しまおひさ　ひらのやおせよ」
Publisher Maruya Bun'emon (Bunjudô) c1793. Signed Utamaro ga
歌麿画
ôban; 27.3 x 39.8 cm (10 3/4 x 15 11/16 in.)

 

Arm-wrestling (Ude-zumô): Champion of the West, Naniwaya Okita of Asakusa 

(Nishi no kata, seki, Asakusa Naniwaya Kita) versus Champion of the East, Takashimaya Ohisa of Ryôgoku (Higashi no kata, seki, Ryôgoku Takashima Hisa)  

Mid- and Late- Heian Period of Japan (Part2)

This video is a part of Japanese Art History Series by Little Art Talks. Hope you enjoyed it and learned something new. Keep watching more videos in this series:

Mentioned Shotoku Taishi Eden Raigōzu & Amida Buddha in Phoenix Hall of the Byōdō-in, a temple in Uji, Kyoto Genji Monogatari Emaki Shigisan Engi Emaki Ban Dainagon Ekotoba Further Reading & Sources: History of Japanese Art by Penelope Mason Japanese Art by Joan Stanley-Baker