De geliefden Yaoya Oshichi en Kosho Kichisaburo 1751

Ishikawa Toyonobu made this print of Yaoya Oshichi and Kosho Kichisaburo, using woodblocks. This wasn't just a reproductive technique, but a highly skilled craft. The design is first drawn, then each color separated onto a different block, carved in relief by artisans, inked and printed in careful register. Look closely, and you can see the slight misalignments that betray this labor-intensive process. What makes this more than just a pretty picture is how the materiality of the print relates to its content. It freezes a moment, making it repeatable and therefore saleable. The story of doomed young lovers touches on class issues in the Edo period, as the maiden Oshichi sets fire to a temple and is executed, so that she can meet with her lover, Kichisaburo. The print transforms this personal tragedy into a commodity, playing into consumer desires and the circulation of such tales. In this way, the print blurs boundaries between art, craft, and commerce.