The Ukiyo-e Ruikō (浮世絵類考, "Various Thoughts on Ukiyo-e") is a Japanese collection of commentaries and biographies of ukiyo-e artists. It did not appear in print during the Edo period in which it was produced, but was circulated in handwritten copies subject with numerous additions and alterations. The writer Ōta Nanpo produced the first version in 1790.
More than 120 variants of the Ukiyo-e Ruikō are known. An edition with updates by Santō Kyōden, Sasaya Shishichi Kuninori, and Shikitei Sanba in 1802 is the earliest extant copy, produced under the title Ukiyo-e Kōshō. This version lists 37 artists and focuses mainly on ukiyo-e painters and major print designers.
The Ukiyo-e Ruikō ranks artists regarded for their paintings higher than those mainly associated with their print designs, and highlights artists training in painterly schools such as the Kanō or painting traditions such as Yamato-e, suggesting the prestige painting held over printing.
References
- Takeuchi 2004, pp. 118, 120.
- Tanaka 1999, p. 190.
- Takeuchi 2004, pp. 118, 227.
- Shimada 1932.
- Takeuchi 2004, p. 120.
- Takeuchi 2004, pp. 120–121.
Works cited
- Shimada, Tsukuba, ed. (1932). Kōtei Ukiyo-e Ruikō 校訂浮世絵類考 (in Japanese). NCID BA35675095
- Takeuchi, Melinda (2004). The Artist as Professional in Japan. Stanford University Press. ISBN 978-0-8047-4355-6.
- Tanaka, Hidemichi (1999). "Sharaku Is Hokusai: On Warrior Prints and Shunrô's (Hokusai's) Actor Prints". Artibus et Historiae. 20 (39). IRSA s.c.: 157–190. doi:10.2307/1483579. JSTOR 1483579.
Further Reading
Noboru Koyama, Ian Ruxton (trans.), Ernest Satow's Japanese Book Collection at Cambridge University Library: Sharaku and the Origins of the Zōho Ukiyoe Ruikō Manuscript (Amazon KDP, 2022)
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