Japanese Print "A Popularized Version of the Story of Sofu and Kyoyu (Ukiyo Sofu ni Kyoyu)" by Okumura Masanobu
Artist:Okumura Masanobu
Title:A Popularized Version of the Story of Sofu and Kyoyu (Ukiyo Sofu ni Kyoyu)
Date:about 1710
Details:More information...
Source:Worcester Art Museum
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Description:
Horizontal oban ( oban yoko-e) Kyoyu is the Japanese reading of the name Hu Yeo \[Link: Hsü Yu\], a Chinese councilor of the legendary Chinese Emperor Yao (c. 2357 BCE).After he had retired from the court and become a hermit, the emperor sent a messenger begging him to return and become his prime minister. While seated beside a washing and washing his ear to remove the taint of having listened to the alluring invitation, his companion Ch'ao Fu (Sofu), who had brought his ox to drink, led it away when he learned the reason for the ablution, so that the animal would not be polluted by imbibing the morally-contaminated water. In the version here presented, a Japanese man who may have heard an invitation from the courtesan or read the love-letter, held by her cat in its mouth. is seated on a veranda, washing his ear at a chozubachi (cistern).
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