Princess Takiyasha-hime is a legend that appears in kagura and kabuki.
She was the one surviving daughter of Taira no Masakado who rebelled against the Kyoto government and tried to become Emperor in 939. You may have seen the print by Kuniyoshi with the giant skeleton? I think I like Chikanobu's less dramatic but still spooky version.
She is wearing the ritual robes of an onmyoji a practitioner of Onmyodo also known as inyodo or Onyodo a strange uniquely Japanese fusion of Taosim and Shinto ritual practices and sometimes magic. Most Onmyoji were diviners or astrologers or experts on rituals or feng shui and other things.
The story claims Takiyasha-hime originally called Satsuki had taken refuge as a nun at Mount Tsukuba and was either given a scroll or tutored by a wizard called Nikushisen on the art of frog magic?
Whether she was actually a magical practitioner or just a deluded refugee she seems to have tried to start another rebellion. Given she came from the Kanto area perhaps her giant toad steed was actually a horse or pony prone to kicking and jumping nicknamed Toad and her frogs and yokai army rebellious locals ... whatever her story inspired this print!
Though admittedly you probably have to be familiar with Heian and Edo period costume to see just how spooky and eerie the use of pale yellows and loosely flowing hair in an almost masculine style are !
Really Chikanobu's compositions deserve more praise and attention.
I suspect his print works including what could be seen as proMeiji propaganda may have lead to him becoming half forgotten. Compare his works to later Shin Hanga masters. I also suspect his use of gradients influenced them?
Back to something more "technozi" next time. A few years back I posted on color adjectives.
I'll be posting about words for blue in Chinese and other languages soon!
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