Yôkihi ( 楊貴妃 )
- Color Woodblock
- 11.6 x 14.1 in
- Tsukioka Kôgyo ( 月岡耕漁 )
-
In Storage
Yôkihi (left) standing and looking down at a kneeling man (right) who is presenting a hairpin to her on a fan.
Publisher: Matsuki Heikichi (Daikokuya)
Yôkihi, from the series Pictures of Noh Plays, Part II, Section I (Nôgaku zue, kôhen, jô). A number of Noh plays are adaptations of Chinese history and legends. This Noh play is from the 15th-century Yōkihi by Komparu Zenchiku, based on the 9th-century narrative poem Chang hen ge (“The Song of Everlasting Sorrow”) by Bai Juyi. The original describes Emperor Xuanzong’s love for his concubine Yang Guifei (Yōkihi in Japanese). The Noh play emphasizes the Buddhist emotion of the fleeting of mortal life and the unavoidable pain and sadness.
Consort Yang Yuhuan (1 June 719 – 15 July 756), often known as Yang Guifei (Guifei being the highest rank for imperial consorts during her time), known briefly by the Taoist nun name Taizhen, is famous as one of the Four Beauties of ancient China. She was the beloved consort of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang during his later years. During the Anshi Rebellion, as Emperor Xuanzong was fleeing from the capital Chang’an to Chengdu, she was killed because his guards blamed the rebellion on her powerful cousin Yang Guozhong and the rest of her family. The story of Yang Guifei and the poem also became highly popular in Japan and served as sources of inspiration for the classical novel ‘The Tale of Genji’ which begins with the doomed love between an emperor and a consort, Kiritsubo, who is likened to Consort Yang. A Japanese rumor states that Lady Yang was rescued, escaped to Japan and lived her remaining life there. In Japanese, she is known as Yōkihi.
- Created: c. 1898
- Inventory Number: 2022.3.3
- Collections: Japanese Prints, Prints