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No. 9 Good Example from the series Moral Lessons for Daughters About the Two Sides of Life

 

Japanese Color Woodblock Print

No. 9 Good Example from the series

Moral Lessons for Daughters About

the Two Sides of Life

by Shōsai Ikkei, 1873


IHL Cat. #646

About This Print

Print number 9 九 from the series Moral Lessons for Daughters About the Two Sides of Life, consisting of twelve 十二 oban size prints.  Each oban size print consists of two chuban size images, the top image displaying an example of bad behavior and the bottom half displaying good behavior.    It is not unusual for the sheets to have been separated into two chuban size prints. 

In this chuban size print (the bottom half of the oban size sheet shown below) a grandmother is bathing her grandchild while the toddler's mother awaits with a robe. The father helps, as do the four good souls (zendama) dressed in white.  Each zendama's face contains the character ‘zen’ 善 (goodness, virtue.)

As shown below, the top print depicts a household displaying bad behavior, apparently partying when they should be attending to their children.  Five bad souls (akudama) dressed in red and identified by the character 悪 (badness, vice) in the rounds of their faces, assist their bad behavior.  It usually takes more akudama to foster bad behavior than zendama to encourage good behavior.

For the origin of these zendama and akudama figures please see the article on this site titled Representations of Good and Evil: Origins of Zendama and Akudama Figures in Japanese Prints.


The uncut sheet
click on image to enlarge
About This Series
This series of prints was originally issued as a full size oban sheet containing examples of bad behavior on top and good behavior on bottom.  It is not unusual for the sheets to have been cut into two chuban size prints.  Each print in the series is numbered, this being number nine 九 out of a total of twelve 十二 full size oban prints. 
 
This twelve print (24 scenes) 1873 series titled Moral Lessons for Daughters About the Two Sides of Life came on the heels of the popular 1872 series titled A Didactic Mirror of Good and Evil, both issued by the publisher KōeidōAs shown below, the format of the prints in the two series were almost identical, the noticeable difference being the blue-colored (and on some prints, cyan-colored) background on the 1873 series.

 Print two from the 1872 series
A Didactic Mirror of Good and Evil
教訓善悪鏡 
 Print two from the 1873 series Moral Lessons for Daughters About the Two Sides of Life
娘教訓二面鏡 



Print Details

 IHL Catalog
 #646
 Title or Description No. 9 Good Example
 Series Moral Lessons for Daughters About the Two Sides of Life
 
Musume kyōkun nimen kagami 娘教訓二面鏡
 [also seen translated as Two Sides of Educating Daughters]
 Artist  Shōsai Ikkei (fl. 1860-late 1870s)
 Signature
Shōsai Ikkei 昇斎一景
 Seal  no artist's seal
 Publication Date
1873

 Publisher
Tsutaya Kichizō, (Kōeidō) 蔦屋吉藏 [Marks: pub. ref. 556; seal ref. 25-427]
seal reading: Tsutakichi han 蔦吉板
 Carver 
 Impression excellent
 Colors excellent
 Condition good - fading due to abrasion in the lower right margin containing the date and publisher seals
 Genre ukiyo-e
 Miscellaneous 
 Format chuban but originally issued as the bottom half of an oban-size sheet. 
 H x W Paper
 7 x 9 1/8 in. (17.8 x 23.2 cm)
 H x W Image
 6 3/8 x 8 5/8 in. (16.2 x 21.9 cm) [area within black border]
 Literature
 
 Collections This Print
 Edo-Tokyo Museum 90200064
last revision:
4/1/2020