Courtesan Riding a Carp (parody of the Daoist Immortal Kinko [Chinese: Qin Gao])

This hosoban urushi-e in the Art Institute of Chicago is one of Shigenaga's finest mitate (parody) prints, transposing the Chinese Daoist immortal Kinko (Qin Gao), traditionally depicted riding a carp into the river to greet the dragon king of the waters, into the body of an Edo courtesan. The mitate convention, central to ukiyo-e wit, paired contemporary popular culture (the courtesan, the kabuki actor, the wakashu) with classical Chinese or Japanese iconography (the immortal, the warrior, the Heian poet) and asked the viewer to enjoy the double reading. Here the courtesan, dressed in the elaborate uchikake and obi of the Yoshiwara, sits astride a carp as if she were Kinko, the absurdity and elegance of the substitution carrying the print's pleasure. Shigenaga's hand was particularly suited to this genre: his draftsmanship was refined enough to honor the classical reference while his bijin vocabulary was current enough to make the contemporary substitution feel right. Urushi-e enhancement gives the courtesan's robes and the carp's scales a tactile gloss. The Chicago impression is in unusually fine state for the period and is among the best-known of Shigenaga's parody prints.