#31 Makibashira (Cypress pillar)
- Medium:
- Woodblock print
- Format:
- Oban
- Source:
- Art of Japan
Description
"Makibashira" (Cypress Pillar) is chapter 31 of The Tale of Genji, in which Lady Higekuro's wife, devastated by her husband's abandonment in favor of Tamakazura, clings to a pillar of their home as she is taken away by her father. Kuniyoshi's treatment, numbered #31, likely depicts this wrenching domestic scene with the psychological intensity he brought to narrative subjects, translating Heian court tragedy into the vivid idiom of late Edo woodblock printing. The subject invited contemplation of grief and the dissolution of a household.
More Prints by Utagawa Kuniyoshi
Woman as the Hero Taisō in Palanquin Holding a Pipe
c. 1830
Woodblock print (surimono), ink and color on paper
Yan Qing (Roshi Ensei), from the series "One Hundred and Eight Heroes of the Popular Water Margin (Tsuzoku Suikoden goketsu hyakuhachinin no hitori)"
Poem by Abe no Nakamaro, from an untitled series of One Hundred Poems by One Hundred Poets
Hu Sanniang (Ko Sanjo Ichijosei), from the series "One Hundred and Eight Heroes of the Popular Water Margin (Tsuzoku Suikoden goketsu hyakuhachinin no hitori)"
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Frequently Asked Questions
#31 Makibashira (Cypress pillar) was created by Utagawa Kuniyoshi (歌川国芳).
#31 Makibashira (Cypress pillar) depicts architecture and trees.