Prints depicting Otake
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Otake
(Otake Dainichi Nyorai) was a humble maidservant of
the Sakuma family in Odenma-cho in Otake
is often portrayed with an object behind her head that resembles a halo, or
with a shadow or reflection identifying her as a divine being. Unless otherwise indicated, these prints
are each about 14 by 10 inches (36 by 25 centimeters), a size known as ôban.
I am grateful to Robert Pryor for his contributions to this section. |
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Title: Jiisan basan anesan mukashi banashi Description: The deities
Okina Inari, Datsueba and Otake Date: 1849 (censors
Mera and Murata) Publisher: Unidentified:
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Another state of the above design |
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Title:
Shibuya Kuritsu Shôtô Bijutsukan, Ukiyoeshitachi no shinbutsu Description: Datsueba is dancing to
Okina Inari’s drum and Otake Dainichi’s shamisen Date:
1849 (censors Mera and Murata) Publisher:
Enshû-ya Matabei Linhart:
50/10029 |
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Title: Description: Datsueba, Okina Inari
and Otake Dainichi Date: 1849 (censors Mera and Murata) Publisher: Kobayashi Taijirô Linhart: Not lister I am grateful to Julius Tüting for this
image. |
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Title: A Brief
History of Otake Dainichi Nyorai, the Woman Otake Who
is an Incarnation of the Dainichi Buddha (Otake Dainichi Nyorai Ryakuengi, おたけ大日如来 略えんぎ) Description: Otake in
heaven with a city and Date: 1849 Publisher: Kobayashi Taijirô |
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Title: Dharma of the
Maidservant Buddha projected onto the shôji
(Gejo Nyorai shôji he utsuru hô no kake, 下女如来障子へうつる法のかけ) Description: Two men see
Otake’s shadow and realize that she is a reincarnation of the Nyorai Buddha Date: 1849 (censors
Mera and Murata) Publisher: |
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Title: Ryûkôken Description: The three
deities Okina Inari, Datsueba and Otake playing ken Date: 1849 Publisher: Ôta-ya Takichi Linhart: 46/10031 NOTE: The small
figures show the steps to a dance in the kabuki play Shinki ikken tori no hatsu koe, which was
performed in the 2nd month of 1849 at the Ichimura theater |
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Title: Ryûkôken Description: The three
deities Okina Inari, Datsueba and Otake playing ken Date: 1849 (censors
Fuku and Muramatsu) Publisher: Ôta-ya Takichi Linhart: 47/10032 Text: Honorable old woman of the Sanzu
River (Omahe Sanzu
no Kawa de O-basan…, おまへ三津の川でおばアさん…) |
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Title: Otake, the
Buddha Dainichi - All Living Beings Pray for Many Things (Otake Dainichi Nyorai - Issaishujô
moromoro no gan okakeru, 於竹大日如来 一切衆生もろもろの願をかける) Description: Spectators
praying to Otake Date: 1849 (censors
Fuku and Muramatsu) Publisher:
Ôta-ya Takichi |
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Title: Otake, the
Buddha Dainichi - All Living Beings Pray for Many Things (Otake Dainichi Nyorai - Issaishujô
moromoro no gan okakeru, 於竹大日如来 一切衆生もろもろの願をかける) Description: Otake
shedding her cloths to reveal herself as a manifestation of Dainichi Nyorai (大日如来), the central
deity of Esoteric Buddhism Date: 1849-1851
(censors Fuku and Muramatsu) Publisher:
Ôta-ya Takichi |
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Title: Kitchen
Implements’ Pilgrimage to Otake, the Buddha Dainichi (Otake Dainichi Nyorai daidokoro dôgu sankei no zu, 於竹大日如来だい所どうぐさんけいのづ), Description: Kitchen
implements praying to Otake Date: c. 1849 Publisher:
Enshû-ya Hikobei |
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Title: Otake, the
living Dainichi Nyorai (Otake Dainichi Nyorai no yurai, 於竹 大日 如来の由来) Description: Otake
adjusting hanging rope Date: 1849 Publisher: Ebi-ya Rinnosuke |
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Title: Exposition of
the Maidservant Otake (Hashitame Otake no setsu, 婢女於竹之説) Description: Otake
preparing food Date: 1849 Publisher: Tsujiokaya Bunsuke |
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Another state of the above design |
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Title: The Legend of
the Maidservant Otake Dainichi Nyorai (Otake
Dainichi Nyorai no den, 浮世絵に書かれたお竹大日如来) Description: Otake washing
the floor Date: 1849 (censors
Kinugasa and Yoshimura) Publisher: Yamaguchi-ya Tôbei |
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Description: Otake
cleaning a lacquer tray Date: 1849 (censors
Kinugasa and Yoshimura) Publisher: Yamaguchi-ya Tôbei Text: A long time ago, in the village of Takarada in Toshima of Musashi Province a woman, Take,
served the wealthy Sakuma family… (むかし武刕豊島郡宝田に佐久間某といふ豪家に召仕ふ竹女…) |
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Series: Stories of
Wise Women and Faithful Wives (Kenjo reppuden, 賢女烈婦傳) Title: The Maid
Take-jo (Kokuji Take-jo, 嬶竹女) Description: Take-jo
(Otake Dainichi Nyorai) sprinkling grain for birds Date: 1843-1846
(censor Yoshimura Gentarô) Publisher: Iba-ya Sensaburô Robinson: S20.20 |
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Title: The Origin of
Otake, the Buddha Dainichi (Otake Dainichi Nyorai
no yurai, 於竹大日如来由来) Description: Otake looking
down from heaven Date: 1846-1848
(censors Muramatsu and Yoshimura) Publisher: Ebisu-ya Shôshichi |
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Title: Otake, the living
Dainichi Nyorai (Great sun Buddha or Vairocana) Description: Date: 1849 Publisher: Kazusa-ya Iwazô |
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Title: None Description: People praying to
Otake Dainichi Nyorai Date: 1847-1850
(censors Mera and Murata) Publisher: Kitoku (久, 紀徳) NOTE: The publisher’s seal is listed as 21-069 in Publishers of
Japanese Woodblock Prints: A Compendium by Andreas Marks, 2011, Hotei
Publishing, Leiden. I am grateful to Michel
Ouellet for this image. |
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“Linhart” refers to listing in the article ‘Kuniyoshi’s Ken Caricatures between 1847 and 1853’, by Sepp Linhart in Andon, Vol. 83, 2008, pp. 5-29 “Robinson” refers to listing in Kuniyoshi: The Warrior-Prints by Basil William Robinson (Cornell University Press, Ithaca, NY, 1982) and its privately published supplement.
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