Kuniyoshi Loves Cats!

One of three Museum Collection patterns at Pagong inspired by great ukiyo-e masters of the Edo-era, we are delighted to present, Kuniyoshi Loves Cats!

The composition for this pattern is actually based on two ukiyo-e works by Kuniyoshi Utagawa, who lived from 1797 until 1861, at the very height of the Edo era (modern-day Tokyo).

The son of a kimono silk-dyer, Kuniyoshi assisted in his father’s business as a pattern designer, and it’s obvious that this very early experience especially influenced his rich use of color and textile patterns in his own artworks. 

While still working at his father’s kimono business, Kuniyoshi’s drawing talents were to have gotten the attention of the great ukiyo-e master Utagawa Toyokuni, and at the tender age of 12, was admitted to the Utagawa school, where Kuniyoshi became one of the chief apprentices.

As an adult however, it wasn’t until Kuniyoshi reached his 30’s that he got his first big break, receiving a major commission which would finally allow him to show his own individual style.

“One Hundred and Eight Heroes”, a series of action-packed Kabuki warrior prints (musha-e), were based on the great heroic characters in the Suikoden, a Chinese novel which was the most popular book at that time, and from which a Kabuki stage drama was also created.

In this series Kuniyoshi illustrated in his rich meticulous style, depictions of these super-hero warriors in epic legendary battles-exuding ferocious energy, handsome and chivalrous, wearing skull-patterned kimono and displaying bold tattoos on their bodies…

The fans of Kabuki were said to have gone wild for the actor prints of these young “gallants” who put down the strong, and protected the weak. Kuniyoshi, depicting actors of Kabuki as the gallants, merged the actor with the dashing hero. The actors, appearing in a Kabuki that blends fiction with historical fact, were to have vigorously played their characters, each one enjoying his own popular following. 

Edo men, and women were said to become excited over talking about which actor was their favorite “member of the band”, and when Kuniyoshi sold his prints in a series, fans were not satisfied until they obtained every one. These actor portraits of “stage idols” would have been the equivalent to today’s celebrity photographs, and in any age fans are eager to collect images of their favorite stars.

In these prints, Kuniyoshi intuitively depicted scenes that resonated with his audience, “spot-lighting” main characters, as is often now done in modern anime and manga, and when the sad news came of a star actor’s demise, he promptly created a memorial portrait, as a courtesy to the stage actor’s “fan club”.

Kuniyoshi was to have gained instant acclaim for these warrior prints, and from this point on in his career, was to have turned the ukiyo-e world “upside down”.

Not only Kuniyoshi’s actor prints, his portraits of courtesans (bijin-ga), were also in high demand, and said to be the “flower of ukiyo-e”. These prints of beauties however, were particularly frowned upon by authorities, even though Edo people of either gender happily collected them.

Having had the early experience of creating patterns for his father’s kimono business, Kuniyoshi’s prints grew increasingly detailed and lavishly colored in his depictions of beauties in exquisitely patterned kimono, using ukiyo-e as a medium to influence the trends of the day. Stylish women of Edo referred to bijin-ga prints as their fashion catalogues, to see the finest and the latest.

At times Kuniyoshi’s publisher would issue orders for “hot news” to be the subject matter for his prints, and Kuniyoshi, with an emotionally-charged print, (better than any newspaper), could spread that news far and wide. His prints were “mirrors of the times”, and similar to today’s news web-sites, they were an essential part of people’s lives. Such was the overwhelming power of Kuniyoshi’s prints.

As fate would have it though, the shogunate’s new reforms of 1841-1845, would shift everything. Aimed to “alleviate economic crisis”, public displays of luxury and wealth were now forbidden, and an official ban was placed on all illustrations of courtesans and Kabuki actors. This repressive “government-created limitation” however, became a kind of artistic challenge for Kuniyoshi actually encouraging him to use his resourcefulness.

Reflecting his love of felines, he ingeniously began to use his own charming and beloved cats, “cats that have been well-loved”, he liked to say, in place of humans, even incorporating a narrative element. Using the faces of real people he began producing caricatures,  or comic prints to disguise actual actors and courtesans. Some prints were to have even humorously criticized the shogunate, which only boosted their popularity with the politically dissatisfied public.

Since reasons to laugh are always in demand, no matter what the age we’re living in, one doesn’t have to understand Kabuki, or the story behind the print, to appreciate the humor of Kuniyoshi.

Creating hundreds of works of his own “cats playing humans”, he packed each print with his witty, entertaining style, and often it was told while having a cat sleeping in the folds of his kimono as he worked.

Even during his own time, Kunioshi’s imaginative approach to the tradition of ukiyo-e set his works apart from the rest. His enduring popularity is doubtless due to his works speaking to us just as warmly today as they did to his contemporaries, undeniably making Kuniyoshi Utamaro one of our most cherished ukiyo-e masters of all time.