Santô Kyôden was an Edo period poet, writer, ukiyo-e artist, and tobacco purveyor[1] known primarily for his work on kibyôshi novels which he both wrote and illustrated himself.
Kyôden began studying under ukiyo-e artist Kitao Shigemasa from his early teens, and produced his first illustrated novels, and single-sheet prints, shortly afterward.
After graduating from Shigemasa's tutelage, Kyôden began working with the publisher Tsutaya Jûzaburô, who persuaded him to move away from prints and to devote himself more fully to book illustration. Though he often was both the author and illustrator of a given book, he often signed the illustrations as Kitao Masanobu, the author cited as Santô Kyôden.
Like many artists/writers of his time, Kyôden did not restrict his activities to only prints, or only to one form of writing. He was heavily involved in poetry circles and other cultural social circles, and is known not only for his ukiyo-e images and kibyôshi, but also for his calligraphy, for kyôka poetry, and a variety of other forms of creative production.
In 1793, when he was in his early thirties, he opened a tobacconist's shop in the Kyôbashi district of Edo[2]; he would often mention or depict his own shop in his writings and print designs. Kyôden is said to have devoted his days to the shop, and his nights to the pleasure districts. He bought out the contract of his favorite courtesan, Tama-no-i, in 1797, and took her as his second wife.[3]
He lived for a time within the Yoshiwara, marrying two shinzô[4] over the course of his life and becoming quite familiar ('tsû) with the names and identities of the various courtesans and teahouses, and with the ways of the district[5], becoming a rather prominent personality within the Yoshiwara, and the Floating World of Edo more broadly.
References
- Lane, Richard. Images from the Floating World. New York: Konecky & Konecky, 1978. pp128-129.
- ↑ Segawa Seigle, Cecilia. Yoshiwara: The Glittering World of the Japanese Courtesan. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1993. p141.
- ↑ Between Edo castle to the west and the Sumidagawa to the east, near where Tokyo Station stands today.
- ↑ Screech, Timon. "Tobacco in Edo Period Japan." in Gilman, Sander and Zhou Xun (eds.) Smoke: A Global History of Smoking. London: Reaktion Books, 2004. p98.
- ↑ Teenage attendants who had not yet become full-fledged courtesans, or those who wouldn't or couldn't become full-fledged courtesans on account of not possessing the beauty, wit, and/or various skills necessary.
- ↑ Seigle. p150.