Instructive Reference-Index of All Sorts of Proverbs

Part I

(Tatoe-gusa oshie hayabiki, 譬諭草をしえ早引)

Publisher: Arita-ya Seiemon

1843

This series of prints shows beautiful women representing proverbs. Instead of being numbered, the small black square in the right upper corner of each print contains a hiragana character that may be ordered in the same manner as the alphabet. Next to the hiragana is a kanji related to the image. Each print bears a poem by Ryûkatei Tanekazu (柳下亭種員). This series is listed as number 100 in Kuniyoshi by Basil William Robinson (Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 1961). The prints are each about 14 by 10 inches (36 by 25 centimeters), a size known as ôban. I am grateful to Robert Pryor for assisting with this series.

	Proverb: Remain straight as a bamboo Description: Young woman with bow and target on ground Hiragana: I (ぃ), No 1 Kanji: 射 (archery)
	Another state without any green
	Another state with plain foreground
	Proverb: Description: Beauty looking down at a brazier Hiragana: Ro (ろ), No. 2 Kanji: 爐 (stove)
	Another state with green foreground
	Another state with plain foreground
	Proverb: Description: Beauty seated by a dressing table blackening her teeth Hiragana: Ha (は), No. 3 Kanji: 齒 (teeth) NOTE: The blackening of teeth was practiced during the Edo period and is called ohaguro (お歯黒).
	Another state with a plain foreground and a grey band on top
	Another state with a plain foreground and a purple band on top
	Proverb: Money can multiply and build up over time, but what is much more precious is the purity and brightness of one’s heart Description: Young woman holding a wedding kimono Text in cartouche: A Chinese sage says that honest, well-behaved people comprise the nation’s treasure. When a woman marries, her dowries, however plenty, are just superficial things. What she should practice for life is serve to her parents-in-law and loyalty to her husband. Hiragana: Ni (に), No. 4 Kanji: 荷 (responsibility) Translation courtesy of Peter Rourke
	Another state with a blue band on top and no seals after the names of the artist and poet
	Another state with a plain foreground and a black band on top
	Proverb: Description: Beauty standing by a sickle and a bundle of a dried crop Hiragana: Ho (ほ), No. 5 Kanji: 穗 (ear of rice)
	Another state of the above design
	Proverb: Description: A diving girl (ama) tying back her hair seated on a rocky outcrop on the seashore Hiragana: He (へ), No. 6 Kanji: 邊 (seashore)
	Proverb: Description: Mother grooming child’s hair Hiragana: To (と), No. 7 Kanji: 砥 (whetstone)
	Another state without purple

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