This koban-sized print is a humorous take on designs as that from shunga design by Yanagawa Shigenobu’s The Dyer’s Saffron (c.1830) and off course Hokusai‘s The Dream of the Fisherman’s Wife (c.1814).
Mirror of Vanity
It shows an octopus wearing a headscarf performing oral sex on an ama diver who submits in apparent ecstasy. She is lying with her head on a grass skirt. Besides them lies a oyster shucking knife and two opened oysters. The text on the black mirror in the upper left corner reads unubore kagami, or ‘mirror of vanity’.
‘Woman and octopus‘ (c.1830) by Utagawa school
Tremendous Lover
The humor lies in the fact that the octopus wears the headband of a commoner and he sees himself in the mirror, imaged as the tremendous lover that octopuses are purported to be.
The following painting influenced by Shigenobu’s The Dyer’s Saffron print is interesting as a comparison with the preceding image…
Late 19th century painting after Shigenobu’s classic design from his ‘Suetsumuhana (A Dyer’s Saffron)‘ (c.1830) depicting ‘a beach scene of two ama divers having a sexual rollick‘ (Price)
Click HERE for a similar scene with a sensuous octopus wearing a headband….!!
Do you have any suggestions for future articles? You can leave them in the comment box below…!!
