and oh those poets ...

Another #Yoshitoshi print this time depicting Fujiwara no Kinto a famous Heian poet offering an unseen person a branch of plum blossom on a fan. This is a depiction of male beauty expressed as style and elegance. His black over-robe is a fine silk gauze? The under robe is a dark red and we see a glimpse of purple trousers and his footprints in the snow? 

and those splendid samurai

#samurai #japaneseprints #yoshitoshi

Another type of male beauty Japanese art describes and celebrates is that of warriors.

This was described as samurai on a moonlit patrol. I presume the moon is setting and thats a pale dawn sky or the moon is rising early ? There's soe wonderful red white contrasts. Note the naginata being used as a lance. Also and this is unusual its not a side or frontal view. We can see the rear of the armour. This is a working soldier on patrol not a kabuki actor posing on stage. 

I get the impression this is something Yoshitoshi saw maybe even sketched. Unfortunately the first draft drawings and sketches of Japanese artists print designers or painters rarely survive. 

Yoshitsune 3

#yoshitsune #ukiyo-e #japaneseprints

one more Yoshitsune print ! This is by #Yoshitoshi and shows the famous fight between #Benkei and a very young Yoshitsune at Gojo Bridge in Kyoto.

Given that Benkei was suppoe to be a warrior monk and Yoshitsune exiled to a temple this is probably not the clothes they may have actually worn. This is what a 19th century artist believed a Heian warrior monk and a young male aristocrat would have worn. Most of the detail may be fairly accurate though given depictions in scrolls with earlier dating.

Yoshitoshi has definitely gone for the beautiful boy look and it is a consistent theme used in other prints that Benkei is shown as very macho in contrast to Yoshitsune.

Kurome - the Cherry Tree Spirit

#yoshitoshi #sakura #kurome 

This is how Yoshitoshi envisioned Kurome.

The angle of her hair pins seems oddly reminiscent of the pistils of a blossom.

She's both demure yet sensual and the green blue obi balances out the deep crimson under kimono and the pale purple of her outer robe.