Parody of Princess Joruri and Ushiwakamaru c. 1788

Curator: The work we're looking at is a color woodblock print by Torii Kiyonaga, titled "Parody of Princess Joruri and Ushiwakamaru" from around 1788. It’s part of the Ukiyo-e tradition. Editor: Ukiyo-e...ah, pictures of the floating world! It has a light and dreamlike feel to me, like glimpsing a moment through a veil. The palette is subdued but very pleasing. Curator: Yes, Kiyonaga was a master of depicting contemporary life in Edo period Japan, with a focus on elegant figures, often in domestic settings. He also ran one of the most prominent printmaking studios of the era. The subject matter is what makes it really special. Editor: Right. A "parody." So, are these elegant ladies essentially playing dress-up, re-enacting this famous legend? Curator: Precisely! Princess Joruri and the young hero Ushiwakamaru are figures from Japanese folklore, often romanticized. What Kiyonaga does here is insert these figures into a very contemporary, perhaps even commonplace, scene. This subverts high and low art forms in an amusing way. The legend gets a little tongue-in-cheek nudge. Editor: I can almost feel a quiet wink from the artist, like he’s inviting us to see the humor in our own daily dramas, inflated as they can be. The figures are so gracefully arranged within the frame, the space itself a kind of character too with its open architecture. Curator: Ukiyo-e prints played a significant social role. They were popular among the burgeoning middle class, functioning as fashion magazines, theatre bills, celebrity endorsements… It was really popular culture at its finest. Editor: So true. I'm sensing a longing for a past that maybe never truly existed. A beautiful, but perhaps simplified vision. Curator: Indeed. I think what this parody does best is highlight both our nostalgia for idealized tales and our recognition of the messy, beautiful, and ordinary realities that actually make up our lives. Editor: Absolutely. It invites me to let go of the pressure for grand narratives, find the romance in the mundane, and smile a little more. Curator: A wonderful observation. Thank you. Editor: Likewise.