One or Two Elegant Reed Leaves (Furyu ashi no ha icho-nicho)
Artist
Okumura Masanobu 奥村 政信
(Japanese, 1686–1764)
Dateabout 1710
MediumWoodblock print; ink on paper; sumizuri-e
Dimensions29.2 x 41.9 cm (11 1/2 x 16 1/2 in.)
ClassificationsPrints
MarkingsPublisher: "Motohama-cho Iga-ya hanmoto" (Iga-ya, publisher at Motohama-cho)
Credit LineJohn Chandler Bancroft Collection
Object number1901.59.2219
DescriptionHorizontal oban (oban yoko-e)Label TextThe title is written in such a blurry fashion that it can be read as one or two reeds. According to Japanese legend the Zen patriarch Bodhidharma (Jap. Daruma) crossed from China to Japan on a reed leaf. This print questions and blurs distinctions between the spiritual and the worldly, the urbane (ga) and the vulgar (zoku). Unlike in traditional Buddhist paintings, Daruma is not depicted crossing the ocean standing regally on a reed leaf (or stalk) and dressed in a wind-blown robe; instead the hairy-armed patriarch is shown seated and engaged in a mundane activity-pruning his beard with tweezers. It is rather the beautiful young woman and the young man who appear refined and god-like. Dressed in elegant furisode and kosode they effortlessly punt the reed-leaf boat, ferrying even Daruma over the waves of the 'floating world' towards bliss. The title emphasizes the paradox by alluding not only to Daruma's single reed-leaf boat but also to the option of 'two elegant reed leaves.' In other words, there are two ways to salvation, that offered by Daruma and that offered by the young guides of the pleasure world. The latter path leads to a choice between a young woman and a young man, yet both the shinzo (young trainee courtesan) and the iro-ko or kabuki wakashu (adolescent combining the professions of acting and male prostitution) have unblemished faces, blurring the distinction between the sexes.
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