Yoshida was the leading Ukiyo-e illustrator in Kyoto and Osaka (in 1664-1689). Yoshida worked primarily unlike his contemporaries in E-maki woodblock prints rather than both artistic and print woodblock designs. Yoshida was the first in the Kamigata area to sign his works, the first being the 1685 Yamato Nijuushi-kou (日本廾四孝| 24 Filial Piety paragons of the Yamato) prints.[4] As such, Yoshida was a prolific illustrator and he was published around 1000 illustrations throughout the Kanbun and Genroku eras in a variety of genres for adult and children audiences. He is particularly well regarded for is drawings for Ihara Saikaku's Ukiyo-zoshi (浮世草子|Notes of the floating world; or Merchant Pleasure Pursuit Genre) Amorous Life of X Series.[1][4]
Yoshida's style is said to be based on today unknown illustrators based around Kyoto and his teacher Shougorou whose work is no longer extant, the Tosa School (1300-1499) and Muromachi E-hon (室町絵本| Muromachi; 1336-1573; Buddhist Picture Books) and the influence of Moronobu.[4] Sumizuri-e in this time were still rather small and had limited space allocation, so instead his Shunga-e was were he produced his most individualistic work. Although his main medium held him back, his Sumizuri are still highly decorative pulling from Japanese and Buddhist decorative, calligraphic and spacial compositional traditions which provide their images main distinctive traits, features and ambience in the otherwise limited medium typical of early Sumizuri-e mannerisms and line qualities which whilst present in Yoshida's art, work around these limitations which come off as Yoshida's more loose distinct charm.[4] Yoshida's output dropped off after 1690 and his work was taken over by 2 of his now anonymous students until 1703.[2][3]
Dress Manuals
During the Genroku period (1683-1703), becuase of ❶Stabilisation policy after Japan's civil war (1590-1615), ❷Sumptuary legislation in reaction to the wealth of the merchant classes (1604-1685) and ❸Regulation of export and imports of foreign trade in silk and cotton (1615-1685), wealth began to accumulate to the Chonin classes.[1] These 3 factors lead to Genroku society becoming increasingly settled in new urban cities like Edo, interconnected and wealthier as a result.
This new quasi-middle class of labourers, merchants and artisans eventually created GKTC and one of their greatest customers were the women whose furisode now began to lengthen, whose coiffure began to more structured and whose wealth was beginning to accumulate. GKTC had stringent instructions and expectations for female and male beauty standards, but must by no means must we view this with a 21st century Western lense of gender divides (or pink for girls, blue for boys) as androgynously beauties (whilst often favouring male beauties albeit) were the standard of the day to strive for.
Suijin Dress Manuals
The well dressed man, often the head of the household and breadwinner at this time would have been an avid consumer of these manuals for himself and any Shaku (嫡 |legitimate wife), Yuujo, Kagema or plaything a Suijin (粋人| Worldly Male) may fancy. It is estimated around 50% of men could read at this time.[4] Another genre of Sumizuri-e which showcased male actors in fashionable garments and can be compared to a modern magazine featuring popular actors doing modelling for example.[4] The majority of books were designed with men in mind, so I shall gloss over them a bit and refer more to womens fashions as as I mentioned before, gender, art, clothing and design over overlapped.[8]
Asobi Dress Manuals
With these expectations, GKTC and beauty standards began to become more visual and visible in the proliferation of picture books. In the case of women, it is estimated only around 20% of women at this could read. This did not stop young unmarried women (or Asobi, play girls) who worked as maids, chefs, childcarers, silk, ramie and hemp weavers, dancers, actors, Night soil compost merchants, and other jobs) from looking at and buying these picture books and dress guides.[5][6][7] This was informed also by the new GKTC expectations for women in their longer swinging sleeves (today furisode), more elaborate and ornate yet rigid hairstyles and wider Obi (belts).[1]
Yoshida's depictions of GKTC also included the etiquette and fashionable styles for hair, kimono fashion and what to wear at home for women at the time. In 1687 he contributed to Genroku KTC by publishing his book of kimono designs, Asobi dress manuals illustrations for Okada Shôhakuken's 1687 Touryuu Onna you Kagami (當流女用鑑| Modern mirror of the world of women/女用訓蒙図彙| Ladies Pictorial Encyclopedia) Volume 4 clearly illustrates the new fashion which Saikaku deemed 'extreme' which had come about by this time as a result of the new wealth which was purposefully flaunted in GKTC.[1][2][4]
A great number of these Kimono designs show literary allusion in the combination of morning glory and carriage motifs to the Yuugao (Morning Glory) chapter in the Genji (which refers to Princess Asagao who Genji didnt get to bone this time and something about Cougars and Snow ITS LATE IM TIRED).[4]
As we see here, Yoshida clearly works within the boundaries of acceptable art limitations for Sumizuri-e with the small and retreating facial features and gestures into the preordained popular S-shape, which came to prominence in the Kambun era. His design book clearly illustrates the Genroku composition style of busy composition. Breaking pre-established norms though go about as far as this and instead follow a shy breakaway from tradition, seen in the number of limited motifs (2 and 3) which were deemed acceptable under sumptuary laws regarding design at the time for Chonin.
Small sections of design instead speak for the wealth by using what appears to be shibori to showcase that whoever was having the kimono made for them had the money to have someone produce Kosode with shibori decoration and intricate large threadwork which even some samurai with their loss of rice revenue could no longer afford to have made. With the ever increasing sumptuary laws which Chonin had to follow, adapting to the sumptuary laws became a key component of GKTC, so whenever a ban on certain designs were introduced, Chonin would rebel and spend more money in other ways, and production (sewing, embroidery, dying etc) was where the money would instead end up.
Yoshida was already established when he began producing Asobi and Suijin Dress Manuals and Saikaku's 'Extreme' GKTC Sumizuri-e between 1682-1692. Whilst his work did not depict Bijin, he did depict what the Bijin would wear which is what makes his illustrations depicting Kimono so useful to us today for defining some of the fashionable kimono and appropriate deportment in GKTC. Modest Peacocking if you will. Yoshidas napes and wrists for instance, unlike saucy Moronobu, are not visible but hidden, which screamed 'I-am-a-middle-class-suburban-1687-housewife'. This whilst not seemingly revolutionary, was a shift in attitude of shunning the human form in the early 17th century to an acceptance of its depiction and acceptability in print for a general audience, which came from the world of Abuna-e and Shunga over to the domestic sphere in a tempered, moderate version.
The Toned-Down Bijin
In conclusion, whilst not classified as Bijinga, Yoshida clearly had a idea about the acceptability and transmission of beauty standards to the average reader. Combine this with his successful collaborations and proliferation in multiple genres, and Yoshida singlehandedly managed to redefine the visual ethos of acceptable dress by the Genroku period. It is clear that Suijin, Asobi, Yujo, Kagema and Samurai families also had begun to mix and adapt and adopt each others dress habits and how this pushed cottage industry production of expensive Kosode whether in the amount of dye used, costly gold threads and leaf application etc onto already vivid, ostentatious and elaborately layered Kosode. These expensive garish GKTC garments caused backlash and reversion by tastemakers to more traditional Buddhists notions of propriety in dress and modest dress etiquette (or being Iki) under the sumptuary laws to the new wealthy urban masses by designers like Yoshida who encouraged modest Ji-monnyou, motif and dress styles in their Sumizuri-e Kosode in reaction against the Chonin Bijin who was characteristically flashy, flamboyant and fabulously overdressed to pop to see the latest Kabuki.
Bibliography
[1] For more on Saikakus contribution to GKTC, see Bijin #3
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoshida_Hanbei
[3] https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/term/BIOG1412
[4] https://www.viewingjapaneseprints.net/texts/ukiyoe/yoshida_hanbei.html
[5] Fertility And Pleasure: Ritual And Sexual Values in Tokugawa Japan, William Lindsey, 2007, p.10
[6] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_soil#Japan
[7] See Goodwin 2000 and Dalby 1983/1993 in Resource Page for more on the definition of Asobi
[8] Cartographies of Desire: Male-Male Sexuality in Japanese Discourse, 1600–1950, Gregory Pflugfelder, 2007, pp.55-73
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