About This Print
At the top of this "news nishiki-e" is a banner held aloft by two cherubs containing the name of the sponsoring newspaper, the Tokyo Nichi Nichi Shinbun 東京日々新聞. The graphic, created by Utagawa Yoshiiku (1833-1904), and the text, written by Sansantei Arindo (1832-1902), both principles in the newspaper, tells of a man who, tired of his wife's infidelities, presents his wife and her lover with gifts and sends them away.
As described by William Wetherall on his website, a farmer named Yasuhei from Uedano Village had an unfaithful wife, Ochika, who was known for having affairs. Fed up with her behavior, Yasuhei presents his unfaithful wife and her lover with a nisho of sake as a gift for their engagement, wishing them well in their new life together. He kneels calmly at upper right, pushing up one sleeve of his kimono. The lover, Kasahara Arasuke, reacts with stunned amazement, scratching his head, his mouth agape, while the beauty turns her head away in amusement, holding the sleeve of her red undergarment to her chin. The red lacquer cask of sake sits at bottom right, a traditional wedding or engagement gift, specially presented. 1
For a summary of the brief life of nishiki-e shinbun (newspaper color woodblock prints) see the article Nishiki-e shinbun and Newspapers in Meiji Japan.
1 website of William Wetherall www.nishikie.com
The Writer Sansantei Arindo (1832-1902)
Sources: Woodblock Kuchi-e Prints: Reflections of Meiji Culture, Helen Merritt and Nanako Yamada, University of Hawaii Press, 2000, p. 198; website of William Wetherall http://www.nishikie.com/almanac/Almanac_whos_who.htmlThe writer for this print is identified as Sansantei Arindo 山々亭有人, which is a pen name of the writer Jono Saigiku 条野 採菊 (born Jono Denpei 條野伝平).
Born in Edo in 1832, by his late teens he had decided to become a writer of gesaku (collective term for prose fiction during the middle to late-Edo period) stories. He published his first story in 1860, and during the 1860s first Yoshiiku, then Yoshitoshi, created illustrations for some of his books.
He went on to found the Tokyo nichinichi shinbun, the Keisatsu shinbun and the Yamato shinbun and continued to write fiction until his death in 1902.
Print Details
| IHL Catalog | #835 |
| Title or Description | Man Ousts His Wife and Her Lover (九百四十号 No. 940) |
| Newspaper | Tokyo Nichi Nichi Shinbun 東京日々新聞 |
| Artist | Utagawa Yoshiiku (1833-1904) |
| Signature |  |
| Seal | 芳幾 Yoshiiku (see above) |
| Writer of Text | Sansantei Arindo 山々亭有 |
| Publication Date | February 22, 1875 |
| Publisher |  seal reading: top: 人形町 Ningyōchō bottom: 具足屋 Gusokuya |
| Carver |  |
| Impression | excellent |
| Colors | excellent |
| Condition | good - light soiling throughout; not backed; trimmed to image border on 3 sides |
| Genre | ukiyo-e; nishiki-e shinbun |
| Miscellaneous |  |
| Format | vertical oban |
| H x W Paper | 13 3/4 x 9 1/8 in. (34.9 x 23.2 cm) |
| Literature | |
| Collections This Print | Waseda University Library 10 08059 0055 |
 |  |  |  |  |