Two women reading

Koryusai Isoda (1735-90) was born into the samurai class as Masakatsu Isoda. His family served the daimyo (regional lord) of Tsuchiya, yet Koryusai abandoned this life to move to Edo. He became a ronin (a samurai without a master) and commenced his artistic career. Training first as a Kano painter, Koryusai changed his course to printmaking during the mid-1760s. While cited as the pupil of Shigenaga, Koryusai's early prints, signed Haruhiro, suggest the tutelage of Harunobu. Koryusai was a prolific artist, completing illustrations and single-sheet prints alike. In 1776, he released Models for Fashion, one of his most important series. He is known for his coveted kacho-e (bird-and-flower pictures), bijin-ga (pictures of beautiful women; an example of which is this print), hashira-e (pillar prints - again applicable here), and the strong use of orange in his prints (ditto). After 1780, he revived his early Kano training and produced ishizuri-e (stone-printed pictures). Soon after this transition, the emperor bestowed Koryusai with the prestigious title of  "Hokkyo", a high honour at the time. Furthermore, he was one of the first ukiyo-e artists to use the oban format (approximately 250 x 350 mm.). This size allowed larger compositions and soon became the standard size for ukiyo-e.

Koryusai drew on the pictorial innovations of Harunobu, embracing his soft colour and polychrome decoration, and his fondness for the word and picture collisions of mitate-e 'parody pictures'. Koryusai was fascinated by the creative challenges of the difficult hashira-e format, designing more than 450 prints – nearly 40% of all extant works of this type. He adopted principles for arranging figures and minimal contextualising features (landscape references, architecture, branches or clouds) that have their sources in Chinese and Heian period (794–1185) kakemono 'vertical scroll' painting precedents.

In this print, a hanging plant container with loquat tendrils and a stylised cloud (kumogata) balance the mirroring forms of the two women below. The contrast between the women's overlapping heads, shoulders and hems, and the striking negative spaces between their heads, shoulders and lower bodies, constructs a deliciously energising tension between them. The delicately contrived juxtapositions emphasise both sensual and poignant sensibilities that Koryusai's viewers could readily relate to the iki 'provocative-chic' ideals of the licensed pleasure quarters. Such two-figure constructions particularly appealed to Koryusai. He arranged his figures side by side as here, in climbing arrangements of alternating diagonal edges or even stacking them vertically in the composition.

The contemporary popularity of Koryusai's hashira-e was acknowledged by Saito Gesshin (1804–78) in his Zoho ukiyo-e ruiko (Enlarged history of ukiyo-e prints) (1844). The inventive potentials of the form underpinned this popularity, but more subtle forces were also at play here. Hashira-e were often mounted as kakemono scrolls, adorned with the artists' seals used for paintings, and hung in tokonoma 'display alcoves'. As 'inexpensive substitutes for kakemono', they offered owners 'an experience of visual culture normally reserved for the higher classes or the wealthy'. Koryusai's subtle glimpses of ankles, wrists or a decolletage introduced a voyeuristic sense of intimacy, enhanced by the way the narrow format suggested a furtive glimpse through a partly opened sliding door or screen. These qualities drew his viewers into playful engagements, encouraging their constructions of imaginary narratives around his pictorial suggestions.

Sources:

David Bell and Mark Stocker, 'Rising sun at Te Papa: the Heriot collection of Japanese art', Tuihinga, 29 (2018), https://www.tepapa.govt.nz/learn/research/research-publications/tuhinga-our-research-journal/past-tuhinga-issues/tuhinga-29#heriot

Ronin Gallery, 'Koryusai (1735-1790)', https://www.roningallery.com/artists/koryusai

Dr Mark Stocker   Curator, Historical International Art   May 2019