Hosoda Eishi 細田栄之 (1756-1829) and ōta Nanpo 大田南畝 (1749-1823) Asazuma-bune
Edo period (1615-1868), circa 1800Kakejiku (hanging scroll), ink and colours on paper in silk mounts, depicting the Asazuma courtesan with hiōgi (fan) and kotsuzumi, dressed in court robes and cap, seated in a boat under a willow tree; lacquered wood jiku (roller ends)Signed Chōbunsai Eishi ga 鳥文斎栄之画 (Painted by Chōbunsai Eishi) with seal Eishi 栄之; with a poem brushed by ōta Nanpo (Shokusanjin) E ni kakeru / Asazuma-bune no / Itchō ni / nichō tsutsumi no / kokoro ugokasu 絵にかける朝妻舟の一蝶に二丁つづみのここ老後かす (see below for translation), signed Shokusanjin 蜀山人Modern wood storage box Overall: 181cm x 35cm (71?in x 14in); Image: 91cm x 27.4cm (35 7/8in x 10 3/8in) (2).
注脚
ōta Nanpo's poem might be translated: Two things move us about / the painted Asazuma boat: / Itchō's indiscretion / and the beat of the drum . The satirical poet takes as its starting point a pun on the words Itchō and tsutsumi. Itchō, as written here, refers to the painter Hanabusa Itchō but the word itchō can also mean 'one' when used as a counter for certain classes of object. Itchō famously painted a picture featuring a courtesan from Asazuma, a harbour on the east coast of Lake Biwa used by travellers from Kyoto on their way to eastern Japan, which he inscribed with a courtesan's kouta song. The song was held to satirise the mistress of Tokugawa Tsunayoshi, the fifth shogun, and as a result Itchō was thrown into jail and sent into internal exile. Since the word tsutsumi can mean both 'banks', referring here to the banks on which the Asazuma courtesans plied their trade and 'drums', referring to the musical instruments used in their dances, the implication of ōta's poem is that the boat depicted by Itchō (or 'one tsutsumi') in his infamous painting now gives renewed or double pleasure, just as the Asazuma ladies do with their favours and their music. The enduring popularity of the Asazuma theme is explored in Wattles 2013, pp.220-233.