Yoshitsune as an Ideal of male beauty - Two

#yoshitsune regardless of however he actually looked like was idealised by later generations 

This is an actor playing him as a character in a #kabuki play in a very elegant costume. I think that the actor is wearing a wig meant to imply this is Yoshistsune as a young man as the hair is down and long BUT possibly yoshitsune as an older man semi retired. I am not sure which play this is from?

Note the aristocratic elegance and how #Kunisada saw late Heian era costume as depicted on stage.

Yoshitsune as an Ideal of male beauty _ One

#japaneseprints #ukiyo-e 

#yoshitsune is often depicted as an ideal of male beauty and often by contrasting him as a youth to #Benkei as in this #kiyonaga print

 

An EDO MALE fashionista

#ukiyo-e #edo #fashion 

While #bijinga is a frequent subject of #ukiyo-e prints fashionable young townsmen were also a theme!

This young fashion conscious Edo resident is depicted wearing a kimono with detailed imagery of the gods of thunder and lightning. 

The indigo coloring suggests this may be a summer yukata.

more of the boys next time!

The Beautiful Boy - One

You know what #bijinga is ? All those paintings and prints of courtesans geisha princesses and poets?

Lets' look at the boys ! Also later in the series some good looking guys!

I love this print by #Koryusai of a very handsome young samurai clearly with a crush on the equally pretty teahouse girl serving him? 

I'll also be looking at prints of famous poets and courtiers and others! 

That notorious Leopard and Bats Badge

THAT Notorious Leopard and Bats Badge - this is a wrok of joy and sorrow !

There's been a great deal of net noise made lately about a certain GROSS MISUSE of a Qing Embroidered Rank Badge by a Certain Magazine.

This  was terrible for a wide variety of reasons or should I say wrongnesses? 

It was also terrible because some poor woman who devotedly stitched this detailed work for a male relative to wear has had her efforts brought into disrepute.

I certainly do not think this should have been used to illustrate an cover as a lead in to an article on COVID!

It is however a beautiful piece of work and while the textile crafter who made it probably had never seen a bat or leopard they tried their best to create a lovely lively composition.

I think however whoever made this had access to a garden. The flowers are exquisite!

I hope whoever this was made for appreciated the efforts.

I hope also that the embroideress wan't doing this because their household was one in which women received no education in characters and calligraphy past the most basic levels? 

OSAKA TOO had Sakura

#Cherry blossom #sakura #osaka

This is a print from a very obscure little known artist. 

Its not up to the high Standards set by Hiroshige and other artists however it's of interest for the following reasons.

Its set in Osaka not Edo or Kyoto.

Male and female musicians together.

The view across the river rather than clsoe up of the cherry trees.

The use of the new 19th purple dyes.

The very similar styles of the kimonos worn by the couple shown. 

They seem to have both been made of the same fabric.

A minor note in the history of depiction of Sakura?

ARIWARA ANXIETY and Spring Sakura

#ariwara #narihira #sakura #waka #japanesepoetry #cherryblossom #spring #kks1:53

ARIWARA NO NARIHARA  
ANXIETY and Spring Sakura 

wrote a famous #waka on the topic of Spring Cherry Blossoms (KKS 1:53)

There have been various translations of these words

Yo no Naka ni / Taete sakura no / Nakariseba / Haru no Kokoro / Nodoke Karamashii

world/ life/ of in middle in at adverb never cherry blossom implied by mention of spring
 of possible pun on crying if not being a thing or if no tears for cherries
spring of heart (mood?) peace would be

Lets tidy that up and crossing fingers and hoping I did Not misunderstand the BUNGO
("Classical Japanese" of Heian literature so a thousand years of difference from Modern Japanese)
turn it into something poetic in English ?

Amidst this world if there were never tears for cherry (blossom)
Then one's heart in spring would have peace ?

or maybe

Living in this world
If there was never such a thing as cherry blossom
In  the midst of spring
Our hearts would have peace.

Consider the social pressure on a Heian courtier to produce a cherry blossom poem
EVERY SPRING that differed from all the existing hundreds of other poems !?

Consider the poor scholar and translator trying to find a balance between the parameters of two different syntactical systems and a 5 7 5 77 syllabic metre to a language with a fondness for epigrams and quatrains for short verse.