Title: Chōjū Jinbutsu Giga (Animal-Person Caricatures), Circa 1815-1832. A Beautifully Rendered and Extremely Rare Emakimono Handscroll Copied After the Original Kozan-ji Temple Example, With Numerous Ink Paintings of Animals Performing as Humans. 11 Meters in Length
Author: After Toba Sōjō and Others; Attributed to Utagawa Kunimitsu(?)
Condition: Very Good
A Late Edo Period, early to mid 19th century emakimono handscroll of the Chōjū Jinbutsu Giga, also famously known as Animal-person Caricatures. This is an expertly hand painted ink and paper (a very sturdy canvas material) copy of the original first of four volumes, first produced sometime in the 12th century, with plausible attributions to Toba Sōjō and others. The drawings of the work are effectively making fun of Japanese priests of that artist’s period, characterising them as toads, rabbits and monkeys. With Chōjū-jinbutsu-giga being read right to left, it has been credited many times as being the oldest work of manga in Japan, with focus brought to the expressive faces of the animals, and “speed line” techniques being utilized.
This first scroll is rather monumental in size, being 11 meters in length, and primarily depicts frogs, rabbits and monkeys (and some foxes and deer) frolicking as if they were human, with the sequences followed as such:
Our scroll begins with a scene of rabbits and monkeys bathing and swimming in a lake, with quite a bit of linework and shading to the earth and water waves.
Past the mountains, cliffs and trees, we can see quite a few rabbits and frogs making bow and arrows, testing their newly crafted arms.
The next scene features more rabbits and frogs, carrying aloft pots and boxes to a yet unknown event.
After this we see more frogs and rabbits pass by animal monks with their non-anthropomorphic cattle (wild boar, sika deer, etc).
Next, we see a thieving monkey running away, with a rabbit in pursuit, and further down we see a poor frog knocked down (likely by the monkey thief), while other animals attend to it.
Our next scene displays a celebration with much dance and flair, showcasing numerous animals in various outfits and vestments, as well as two frogs dancing.
Following this, is my favorite scene, featuring several animals wrestling, with a rabbit bowled over, and two frogs ready to grapple.
After this, we come to the final scenes, where there is a group of animals visiting a funeral of sorts, with several priestly animals reading from their scrolls, while a monkey priest prays to a frog representing Budai, and several more animals tend to the deceased.
This copy has beautifully reproduced much of the linework and lively expressions of the original 12th century scroll, though it can be easily seen that the original is still much more masterfully produced. Still, an excellent Late Edo Period copy, and an extraordinarily rare one at that, with no comparative copies that I can find. This should not be confused with the 20th century facsimile editions that were mass produced and printed, copying the artist seals from the original example.
There is an artist seal and collector seal I do not recognize, but the signature appears to be closest to that of the Late Edo Period painter and Ukiyo-e artist Utagawa Kunimitsu 国光 (Circa 1800-1832), It is only after several hours of comparing signatures via the Ukiyo-e Database and other websites that I come to this conclusion, the 国光 signature coming closer than any other artist, though I did briefly consider Kunimaru as well.
Of Kunimitsu, he was a pupil of Utagawa Toyokuni, residing in Iikura Kawarake-cho. His artistic career was from the Kyowa to Bunsei Eras, and he produced illustrations for gokan (combined volumes), portraits of actors, and portraits of beautiful women, or Bijin-ga.
The paintings have been laid down and bound in a scroll for preservation, with a beautiful brocade decorated cover, and there are jikusaki (knobs) made of lacquered wood. There is a wooden box to accompany it, preserving the scroll.
One brocade decorated emakimono (picture scroll) on canvas(?), 29.5 x 1100 cm
This emakimono is in very good shape, with minimal wear or rubbing to the brocade. There is very light, scattered staining in places.