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Masanobu

1686–1764

Given name: Genpachi. Art surname: Okumura. Art names: Baiō and Shinmyō (from 1707), Hōgetsudō (from the late 1730s), Bunkaku and Tanchōsai (from the 1740s).

Masanobu was a painter, print artist, and illustrator as well as a pioneering book publisher and author. He was a leading figure in the early period of woodblock printing and established his own school. Born in 1686, he studied poetry under Tachiba Fukaku (1662–1753) but was largely self-taught as a painter, showing influences by Hishikawa Moronobu (died 1694) and Kiyonobu. Masanobu is seen as the originator of the “pillar prints” (hashira-e) and also of prints that make use of a European perspective (uki-e). Furthermore, he is one of the first who published benizuri-e (two-color-printing).

Masanobu covered a wide range of motives including prints

of beauties, actors, flowers and birds, warriors, and erotica. His earliest known work is a 1701 published copy of Kiyonobu’s “Illustrated Book of Courtesans” (Keisei ehon) from 1700. By 1711, he had illustrated twenty-five books. In these early years he frequently used an elaborate signature calling himself “Yamato picture master” (Yamato eshi). In the late 1710s he started with the Okumuraya (firm name Kakujudō), his own book- and printshop located in Nihonbashi’s Tōrishiochō, which allowed him to experiment with new formats and techniques. Especially since 1724 he published many of his own prints. He developed a gourd-shaped (hyōtan) publisher seal as his trademark and praised his works by explicitly mentioning their quality and originality on the prints themselves.

Masanobu died in 1764, aged 79.

1743 “Perspective picture of a real play on stage” (Shibai kyōgen uki-e nemoto). 45 x 31.5 cm (17.7 x 12.4 in.). Publisher: Okumuraya. Asian Art Museum, National Museums in Berlin.

1730s “Set of Three, center—Moon of Musashi” (Musashi no tsuki, sanpukutsui—naka). Hosoban beni-e. Publisher: Okumuraya. Asian Art Museum, National Museums in Berlin.

c.1725 The actor Sanjō Kantarō II as s singer of popular songs in the Yoshiwara. Hosoban urushi-e. Publisher: Okumuraya. Asian Art Museum, National Museums in Berlin. Unlisted in Mutō 2005.

c.1720s/30s Two dancers playing shamisens entertaining a young man drinking sake. Hosoban urushi-e. Publisher: Okumuraya. Library of Congress.

Masanobu (attr.). c.1720s/30s An amorous advance. Hand-colored album leaf. Collection Peter Rieder.