Advanced Search 
「太閤五妻洛東遊観之図」
The Taikô and His Five Wives on an Excursion to the East of Kyoto (Taikô gosai Rakutô yûkan no zu)
「太閤五妻洛東遊観之図」
Kitagawa Utamaro I (Japanese, early 1750s–1806)
Japanese
Edo period
about 1803–04 (Kyôwa 3–Bunka 1)
Medium/Technique
Woodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper
Dimensions
Vertical ôban triptych; 37 x 76.4 cm (14 9/16 x 30 1/16 in.)
Credit Line
William Sturgis Bigelow Collection
Accession Number11.14509-11
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsAsia, Prints and Drawings
ClassificationsPrints
Catalogue Raisonné
Machida City Mus., Dai musha-e ten (2003), #II-1; Asano & Clark, Passionate Art, #432; Ukiyo-e shûka 3 (1978), list #511.1-3, figs. 26-8; Shibui, Ukiyo-e zuten Utamaro (1964), 40.3.1-3; Yoshida, Utamaro zenshû (1941), #615; Ukiyo-e taisei 7 (1931), #338
DescriptionTriptych: 11.14509 (right), 11.14510 (center), 11.14511 (left)
MFA impressions: 11.14509-11, 21.7697-9
The triptych depicts a historical event of of 1598, the 15th day of the third month, when the ruler of Japan, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who used the title Taikô, held a cherry-blossom viewing party at Daigo-ji temple, just east of Kyoto. The names of individual figures inscribed on the print are, from right: Lady Kana (Kana dono), Lady Sanjô, Ishida Mitsunari, Lord Hideyoshi the Taikô (Taikô Hideyoshi kô), Lady Matsu-no-maru (Matsu-no-maru dono), Okoi no kata, Lady Yodo (Yodo dono), Kita no Mandokoro.
On the 16th day of the fifth month, 1804, Utamaro was punished for designing prints based on the book Ehon Taikôki (Illustrated Chronicles of the Taikô); this print may have been one of the problem pictures.
MFA impressions: 11.14509-11, 21.7697-9
The triptych depicts a historical event of of 1598, the 15th day of the third month, when the ruler of Japan, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who used the title Taikô, held a cherry-blossom viewing party at Daigo-ji temple, just east of Kyoto. The names of individual figures inscribed on the print are, from right: Lady Kana (Kana dono), Lady Sanjô, Ishida Mitsunari, Lord Hideyoshi the Taikô (Taikô Hideyoshi kô), Lady Matsu-no-maru (Matsu-no-maru dono), Okoi no kata, Lady Yodo (Yodo dono), Kita no Mandokoro.
On the 16th day of the fifth month, 1804, Utamaro was punished for designing prints based on the book Ehon Taikôki (Illustrated Chronicles of the Taikô); this print may have been one of the problem pictures.
Signed
Utamaro hitsu (on each sheet)
歌麿筆
歌麿筆
Marks
No censor's seal
改印：なし
改印：なし
ProvenanceBy 1911, purchased by William Sturgis Bigelow (b. 1850 – d. 1926), Boston [see note 1]; 1911, gift of Bigelow to the MFA. (Accession Date: August 3, 1911)
NOTES:
[1] Much of Bigelow's collection of Asian art was formed during his residence in Japan between 1882 and 1889, although he also made acquisitions in Europe and the United States. Bigelow deposited many of these objects at the MFA in 1890 before donating them to the Museum's collection at later dates.
NOTES:
[1] Much of Bigelow's collection of Asian art was formed during his residence in Japan between 1882 and 1889, although he also made acquisitions in Europe and the United States. Bigelow deposited many of these objects at the MFA in 1890 before donating them to the Museum's collection at later dates.