A Visual Parody of Ushiwakamaru and Princes Jöruri

A Visual Parody of Ushiwakamaru and Princes Joruri is a mitate-e woodblock print by Chobunsai Eishi (1756-1829), the Kano-trained [ukiyo-e](/glossary/ukiyo-e) master who brought aristocratic taste into the floating world. The image transposes the legendary romantic encounter between the young Minamoto no Ushiwakamaru and Princess Joruri into an Edo [bijin-ga](/glossary/bijin-ga) vocabulary, replacing the medieval lovers with elegant contemporary beauties. As preserved in the Honolulu Museum of Art collection (record 3009, archived through ukiyo-e.org), the design illustrates the mitate convention central to Eishi's career: classical narratives are flattened into the present moment, where slender bijin in patterned robes stand in for the heroes of older tales. The composition relies on the willowy figural type Eishi developed after leaving the studio of Kano Eisen-in Michinobu and entering the orbit of Edo print publishing in the late 1780s. Long necks, lowered eyes, and tall body proportions signal his courtly background and distinguish his women from Utamaro's more sensuous bijin. Color is restrained: muted greys, soft pinks, and bands of black hair laid out against an open ground, with kimono patterns serving as the chief decorative incident. The print belongs to the broader category of yatsushi-e and mitate-e through which Eishi made literary erudition fashionable among middle-class print buyers, who could enjoy the gentle joke of seeing the legendary Joruri reimagined as a top-ranking Yoshiwara courtesan or a samurai-house attendant. As an example of his Edo bijin-ga, the sheet shows why patrons valued his designs as a refined alternative to the more theatrical productions of his contemporaries, and why his work is consistently grouped with the late-eighteenth-century shift toward classicizing elegance in ukiyo-e.