4

In the context of a C19th work titled Takamatsu no shiro mizuzeme no zu, "Picture of the Flooding of Takamatsu Castle" (髙松城水責之圖 with furigana たかまつのしろみづぜめのづ), there is a name cartouche, but I am uncertain about three of the characters.

保里尾[ ][ ][ ]晴

Hori ....?

Can anyone assist?

Frederick Harris, Ukiyo-e: The Art of the Japanese Print, suggests the character is one of Toyotomi Hideyoshi's generals, Ukita Hideie (宇喜多秀家, 1573–1655), however, I don't understand the kanji if this is the case. Historical references indicate that Hideyoshi besieged Takamatsu-jō in 1582, yet Hideie did not become the head of the Ukita clan until 1582 and since he was still young, it was his uncle, Ukita Tadaie (Titles: Dewa no kami / other names: Sakazaki Tadaie), who acted as leader of the army during the siege. This leaves me no wiser, either.

name cartouche

Improve this question
5
  • 4
    He must be 堀尾 吉晴, also known as 堀尾 茂助, one of Toyotomi Hideyoshi's generals. It is written in alternative kanji, 保里尾茂介義晴.
    – marasai
    Commented Apr 8, 2018 at 15:20
  • 2
    To clarify: [保]{ほ}里{り}尾{お}茂{も}介{すけ}義{よし}晴{はる}. 保里 replaces 堀, 介 replaces 助, and 義 replaces 吉.
    – dROOOze
    Commented Apr 9, 2018 at 5:30
  • 1
    Thanks @marasai and droooze. Very helpful. I am perplexed at how a publication can state that the protagonist is Ukita Hideie, when the character is Horio Mosuke Yoshiharu! I note (at least for my interest!) that Kuniyoshi's Taiheiki eiyūden (太平記英勇傳) uses the altered name Orio Mosuke Yasuharu (織尾茂助安春 [おりをもすけやすはる]) given censorship restrictions imposed in the 1840s. Re: 保里尾茂介義晴, perhaps I should have guessed at the 義, however, the form that 介 takes doesn't appear to sit nicely along a kaisho-gyōsho-sōsho spectrum.
    – musha
    Commented Apr 9, 2018 at 18:55
  • 1
    @musha it's kaisho ryakuji perhaps?
    – melissa_boiko
    Commented Apr 11, 2018 at 17:22
  • Hey @droooze, marasai, and boiko, given your responses I tried to piece images/observations below (as part of my learning curve). If you have further comments please let me know. I clearly need to pay attention to this kaisho ryakuji phenomenon more (on top of everything else... hentaigana etc. does it ever stop?): indeed, if I travel back and look at cartouches I couldn't previously understand/transcribe, I am sure my success rate will now be higher.
    – musha
    Commented Apr 15, 2018 at 11:53

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
2
  1. 茂 = enter image description here

Examples along the kaisho-gyōsho-sōsho spectrum:

enter image description here enter image description here enter image description here

  1. 介 = enter image description here

Examples along the kaisho-gyōsho-sōsho spectrum:

enter image description here enter image description here enter image description here

The 介 in the cartouche has some similarity with the example that has been circled.

An example (below) of kaisho ryakuji:

enter image description here

  1. 義 = enter image description here

Examples along the kaisho-gyōsho-sōsho spectrum:

enter image description here enter image description here enter image description here

It appears obvious that in all of the kaisho examples of 義, the 𦍌/羊, 手, and 戈 are apparent, that is, the yoshi character is composed of ⿱𦍌我, where 我 is ⿰手戈. Yet in the name cartouche the 手 is absent in the 義 character. There is a gyōsho (?) example where the 手 seems to be absent (circled)...??. The question is whether the general omission of 手 is an example of kaisho ryakuji (略字, "abbreviated characters") as posited by @boiko. See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ryakuji, http://hac.cside.com/bunsho/1shou/39setu.html, and http://pbbs.web.fc2.com/etc/ryakuji.htm.

A kaisho ryakuji example is given for 儀, "ceremony, rule, affair, case, a matter":

enter image description here

This is in keeping with the simplification of the 義 character: enter image description here

Improve this answer
2
  • 1
    I can offer a comment on「茂」.「艹」sees frequent simplification to「䒑」, the most obvious example in Jōyō kanji being「著」>「着」, but note that several other components may be simplified to「䒑」as well (plus it is already the top of characters containing「羊」). The other two seem to be confined to Japanese and are not seen across other East Asian calligraphy traditions; overall I wouldn't call these two as part of the kaisho-gyōsho-sōsho spectrum, and in Chinese we have a term for this which is called character corruption (訛變).
    – dROOOze
    Commented Apr 15, 2018 at 12:16
  • 1
    See this and this, also some useful information here.
    – dROOOze
    Commented Apr 15, 2018 at 12:17

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .