Parody of Palace Servants Heating Sake over a Fire of Maple Leaves

ca. 1750

Not on view

In one scene of The Tale of the Heike, Emperor Takakura happens upon servants who have swept up maple leaves to make a fire to heat sake. The emperor remarks that they seem to be aware of a poem by the Tang poet Bo Juyi alluding to just such a scene. In this parody of the episode, one of the servants plays a three-stringed shamisen, which is anachronistic, since the instrument was not used in Japan until the seventeenth century. Beside the scene the artist has added a hokku (seventeen-syllable seasonal poem), perhaps of his own composition

Irozuku ya
momiji o takite
sake no kan

How colorful!
Burning crimson leaves
to heat rice wine

—Trans. John T. Carpenter

Artwork Details

見立『平家物語』紅葉焚図
Title: Parody of Palace Servants Heating Sake over a Fire of Maple Leaves
Artist: Okumura Masanobu (Japanese, 1686–1764)
Period: Edo period (1615–1868)
Date: ca. 1750
Culture: Japan
Medium: Red-colored woodblock print (benizuri-e); ink and color on paper
Dimensions: Image: 16 5/16 × 11 3/4 in. (41.4 × 29.8 cm)
Classification: Prints
Credit Line: Harris Brisbane Dick Fund and Rogers Fund, 1949
Object Number: JP3079
Curatorial Department: Asian Art

More Artwork

By Okumura Masanobu

In the same medium

From the same time and place

An Oiran Playing the Shamisen to a Young Man Kneeling by Her Side in Rapt Attention, Okumura Masanobu Japanese, Monochrome woodblock print; ink on paper, Japan — An Oiran Playing the Shamisen to a Young Man Kneeling by Her Side in Rapt Attention
After Okumura Masanobu

Helmet (<i>Zukinnari Kabuto</i>), Iron, lacquer, Japanese — Helmet (*Zukinnari Kabuto*)
Japanese
16th century

Night Rain at the Double-Shelf Stand, from the series Eight Parlor Views (Zashiki hakkei), Suzuki Harunobu Japanese, Woodblock print (first edition); ink and colors on paper, medium-sized print (chuban), Japan — Night Rain at the Double-Shelf Stand, from the series Eight Parlor Views (Zashiki hakkei)
Suzuki Harunobu
ca. 1766

A Man Attended by a Servant Carrying a Lantern, Okumura Masanobu Japanese, Monochrome woodblock print; ink on paper, Japan — A Man Attended by a Servant Carrying a Lantern
After Okumura Masanobu

Armor (<i>Gusoku</i>), Saotome Ietada Japanese, Iron, lacquer, silk, gilt copper, Japanese — Armor (*Gusoku*)
Armorer Helmet bowl signed Saotome Ietada
Armorer Breastplate inscribed inside, Myōchin Munesuke
16th and 18th centuries

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