Kyokun zen’aku kagami 教訓善悪鏡

English title: A Didactic Mirror of Good and Evil

Dimension: each print, 6 15/16 x 9 1/4 in.

As a Tokyo print designer, Shosai Ikkei was a pupil of Utagawa Hiroshige III. He produced meisho-e (images of famous locations) of a radically changing Tokyo during the early days of Western-style modernization. His work includes the set Forty-eight Views of Famous Places in Tokyo (Tōkyō meisho shijūhakkei, 1871) and lively views in Comic Scenes of Thirty-six Famous Places in Tokyo (Tōkyō meisho sanjūroku gisen, 1871 -72), both oban-format (full-sheet of 15 x 10”). 1 The right print presents an instance of bad behavior and the left image illustrates good deeds. In this chuban (half height of an oban print), good parents are bathing their young children, being assisted by four good souls (zendama 善玉) dressed in white. The character ‘zen’ 善 (goodness, virtue) is written on each zendama’s face. The right print illustrates a household showing bad behavior, obviously partying when they should be taking care of their children. Five bad souls (akudama 悪玉) dressed in red and identified by the character 悪 (badness, vice) in the rounds of their faces, help their bad deeds. It is more usual that akudama are taken to highlight bad behavior than zendama to cultivate good deeds. Wang Yijing 1 Amy Reigle Newland. The Hotei Encyclopedia of Japanese Woodblock Prints. Amsterdam: Hotei Pub, 2005.p. 504; Additional information about Shosai Ikkei can be found in: http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/昇斎一景, opens in a new window. Since I do not read Japanese, I have not included it in the entry.