'The fox woman of Suwa in Shinano'

Date:: 19th century
Medium:: Print
Format:: Oban
Source:: Victoria and Albert Museum

Typical Price

Fine beauty print from late Meiji career in excellent condition: $1,000–$5,000
Good condition beauty subject: $400–$1,500
Standard impression: $200–$600

Description

"The Fox Woman of Suwa in Shinano" depicts a kitsune-onna—a fox spirit in female human form—associated with the Suwa region of Shinano Province (present-day Nagano Prefecture), where the great Suwa Taisha shrine was a major center of fox deity worship. Fox women in Japanese folklore were figures of dangerous supernatural beauty, capable of bewitching men and causing madness. Yoshitoshi renders the figure in the ambiguous register he preferred for supernatural subjects: beautiful enough to attract, uncanny enough to disturb.

More Prints by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi

Shunkan Watching Enviously from Kikai Island as Yasuyori Returns to the Capitol after Being Unexpectedly Pardoned (Shunkan sozu Kikaigashima ni oite tamatama Yasuyori no shamen senbo kito no zu)

Looking as if She Wants to Go for a Walk: The Fashion of a Married Woman of the Meiji Era (Yūho ga shitasō, Meiji nenkan saikun no fūzoku), from the series Thirty-two Appearances of Fashion (Fūzoku sanjūni sō)

Slovenly (Shidaranasaso), from the series "Thirty-two Aspects of Women (Fuzoku sanjuniso)"

1888

Color woodblock print; oban

Four PM, from the series "Twenty-Four Hours in Shinbashi and Yanagibashi"

n.d.

Color woodblock print

More Animals Prints

Snake Charmers (Hebizukai)

Hebizukai

1932

Color woodblock print; oban

Hoshifuri Pine at Zen'yoji Temple in Edogawa (Edogawa-ku Zen'yoji Hoshifuri matsu), from the series "One Hundred Views of Great Tokyo in the Showa Era (Showa dai Tokyo fukei hyaku zue hanga)"

1935

Color woodblock print; oban

Drawing for Rabbit and Boy

1964

Acrylic paint and oil pastel with oiled charcoal and ink over an ink and graphite underdrawing on paper

Rabbit and Boy

1964

Color lithograph with relief block and hand coloring; edition 35/36

Frequently Asked Questions

'The fox woman of Suwa in Shinano' was created by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi (月岡芳年) in 19th century.

'The fox woman of Suwa in Shinano' depicts animals.