UTAGAWA Kuniyoshi

choi

本文通过一路BBS站telnet客户端发布

Ken Johnson, Epics and Erotica From a Grandfather of Anime. New York Times, Apr. 16, 2010.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/16/arts/design/16kuniyoshi.html?scp=1&sq=hokusai&st=cse

Note:
(1) UTAGAWA Kuniyoshi 歌川 国芳 (ca. 1797-1861)
(2) The title of the woodcut print is

The Earth Spider Conjures Up Demons at the Mansion of Minamoto no Raiko 源頼光公舘土蜘作妖怪図

(a) MINAMOTO no Yorimitsu 源 頼光 (944-1021), also known as MINAMOTO no Raikō, served the regents of the Fujiwara clan.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minamoto_no_Yorimitsu
("Raiko is usually accompanied by his four legendary retainers, known as the Shiten-nō (The Four Guardian Kings; 四天王)")

頼光 is Kanji for BOTH Yorimitsu and Raiko, the former is Japanese ("kun" 訓) pronunciation whereas the latter Chinese ("on" 音) pronunciation.
p Raiko 源 頼光

(b) For "Earth Spider 土蜘蛛," see Japanese ("kun") pronunciation for the Kanji:

Tsuchigumo
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsuchigumo

You must read this web page to understand what the NYT article was about. However, this Wikipedia page is not well written, so that 金太郎 has nothing to do with the poisoning (more stories later developed around 金太郎, who was a child of superhuman strength).

(3) triptych (n; Greek triptychos having three folds, from tri- + ptychē fold)
(4) Hokusai
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hokusai
(KATSUSHIKA Hokusai 葛飾 北斎 (1760–1849))
(5) Hiroshige
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiroshige
(UTAGAWA Hiroshige 歌川 広重 (1797-1858))

Note: 歌川派 の創始者・歌川豊春 UTAGAWA Toyoharu had a student whose birth name was 倉橋 熊吉 KURAHASHI Kumakichi but who later adopted his teacher's family name and turned 歌川 豐國 UTAGAWA Toyokuni (1769-1825). Toyokuni in turn took in 国芳 and 広重, among others, as students 門人.

(6) Arthur R. Miller
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_R._Miller
(1934- ; was a professor in Harvard Law School)
(7) For "plane down," see

plane (vt): "to remove by or as if by planing —often used with away or off"

A "plane" as a noun is 刨子.

(8) fuhyo 不評 【ふひょう】 (n): "bad reputation; disgrace; unpopularity" Jim Breen's online Japanese dictionary
(9) virtuosic (adj) for "virtuoso" (n, Italian for "virtuous"): "one who excels in the technique of an art"

(10) The NYT article ends by saying,

"The 1837 image of a naked, red-skinned boy wrestling a carp bigger than himself under a waterfall with a seemingly translucent curtain of liquid falling over the big fish, and a blizzard of little white bubbles dotting the whole is as exciting for its technical merit as for its mythic vision. A triptych from 1845-46, in which a giant, spectral skeleton conjured by an evil princess looms over a pair of battling, resplendently dressed warriors, and another from the same year showing the muscular hero Benkei dragging a giant bell up the slopes of Mount Hiei, are marvels of draftsmanship and fantastic visual storytelling"

(a) The first tableau can be found in upper right corner of

金太郎
http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%87%91%E5%A4%AA%E9%83%8E

(b) The second tableau refers to 画像-1：『相馬の古内裏』 in

歌川国芳
http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%AD%8C%E5%B7%9D%E5%9B%BD%E8%8A%B3

Note:
(i) spectral (adj): "of, relating to, or suggesting a specter: GHOSTLY"
(ii) conjure (vt): "to summon by or as if by invocation or incantation"
(iii) resplendent (adj; L. splendēre to shine — more at SPLENDID): "shining brilliantly"

All English definitions are from www.m-w.com.

(c) The third, and last, tableau refers to 弁慶 比叡山へ引き摺り上げる之図. For the woodcut print and the real bell, see the icons in the upper right and lower right corners, respectively, in  

梵鐘
http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%A2%B5%E9%90%98

(i) Benkei 弁慶 (1155-1189), a Japanese warrior monk (sōhei 僧兵) who served MINAMOTO no Yoshitsune 源 義経.
(ii) Mount Hiei
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Hiei
(比叡山; a mountain to the northeast of Kyoto, lying on the border between the Kyoto 京都府 and Shiga prefectures 滋賀県, Japan)

(iii) Consult

Benkei and the Bell
http://www.web-books.com/Classics/ON/B1/B1413/14MB1413.html
(iv) The real bell is a treasure at 滋賀県・園城寺（popularly known as 三井寺 Miidera; 天台寺門宗の総本山）
http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%9C%92%E5%9F%8E%E5%AF%BA

--