Fuji no uraba, from the series "A Fashionable Parody of the Tale of Genji (Furyu yatsushi Genji)"
- Date:
- c. 1789/94
- Medium:
- Color woodblock print; oban triptych
- Source:
- Art Institute of Chicago
Fuji no uraba belongs to Chobunsai Eishi's series A Fashionable Parody of the Tale of Genji (Furyu yatsushi Genji), a cycle dated to about 1784 in the Art Institute of Chicago. The series is one of Eishi's most characteristic projects: each sheet pairs a chapter of Murasaki Shikibu's eleventh-century Tale of Genji with a present-day Edo scene of fashionable women, a yatsushi or mitate-e device that invites the viewer to read the classical narrative through the manners and dress of the late eighteenth century. Fuji no uraba, literally Wisteria Leaves, is one of the chapters traditionally numbered late in the Genji, associated with marital and political alliances and frequently illustrated with cascading wisteria. Eishi accordingly stages an interior in which slender women, drawn with his trademark elongated bodies and narrow shoulders, gather in poses that quietly evoke the chapter's atmosphere of preparation and assembly. His Kano-trained [ukiyo-e](/glossary/ukiyo-e) draftsmanship is on clear display: outlines are economical and consistent in weight, hair is gathered into orderly silhouettes, and patterns appear in restrained passages that allow the figures' overall poise to dominate. There is no overt depiction of Genji himself; instead, viewers familiar with the source recognise the connection between the title and the staged scene, while less literary buyers simply admire a fine Edo [bijin-ga](/glossary/bijin-ga). The Art Institute's impression of Fuji no uraba thus serves both as a fashionable beauty print and as a small piece of vernacular Genji scholarship, demonstrating Chobunsai Eishi's gift for embedding classical reference inside the visual language of his own time.
c. 1790
Color woodblock print; oban
c. 1789/95
Color woodblock print; right sheet of oban triptych
c. 1791/92
Color woodblock print; chuban
c. 1793
Color woodblock print; oban
Woodblock print
Woodblock print
c. 1830/35
Color woodblock print; oban
![Mount Fuji on a Moonlit Night, Kawai Bridge (Tsukiyo no Fuji [Kawaibashi]), from the series "Selection of Views of the Tokaido (Tokaido fukei senshu)" by Kawase Hasui](https://www.artic.edu/iiif/2/d0960668-1e73-339a-b182-fb995a54bff0/full/843,/0/default.jpg)
1947
Color woodblock print; oban
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
Fuji no uraba, from the series "A Fashionable Parody of the Tale of Genji (Furyu yatsushi Genji)" was created by Chōbunsai Eishi (鳥文斎栄之) in c. 1789/94.
Fuji no uraba, from the series "A Fashionable Parody of the Tale of Genji (Furyu yatsushi Genji)" depicts mount fuji.