Namichidori (Plovers above Waves)

Details

KATSUSHIKA HOKUSAI (1760-1849)
Namichidori (Plovers above Waves)
The complete set of twelve woodblock prints with handcoloring with white mica ground
Illustrations:
1. A sexually fulfilled mother with her infant boy
2. Two penniless lovers rendezvous in a private outdoor spot
3. A widow exhausts her young lover; a box of sex toys is in the lower left
4. A passionate matron swoons under the embrace of her young lover
5. A wife instructs her husband how to pleasure her
6. A clownish bathhouse attendant (sansuke) forces himself on a young woman in a corner of a bathhouse; a servant without a purse, he stores his coin in his ear
7. A commoner husband and wife make love on a balmy summer night beneath a mosquito net
8. A young man enjoys a rare meeting with his lover, a popular courtesan
9. Taking advantage of her husband's absence a wife has invited her lover into her bedroom for amusements
10. A female abalone diver and her fisherman lover; the diver tries to dodge her lover's questions inspired by rumors of her infidelity
11. Another commoner wife joyous at her husband's absence calls in her lover
12. A man suckles his pregnant wife, indicated by the sash around her belly
Horizontal oban: 9 5/8 x 15 in. (24.4 x 38.1 cm.) each
(12)

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Takaaki Murakami

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Lot Essay

This famous erotic set is the 1830s edition with mica grounds, hand-coloring and enhanced female genitalia. The first edition, published as Fukujuso (The Adonis Plant, a New Year's symbol), includes text considered superfluous in the deluxe version here but that amplifies the action in this version, such as the woman's dismissing her lover's pressing questions in plate 10. The set takes its nickname "Plovers above Waves" from the design on plate one in the first edition that was repeated on the original embossed covers of the second series. Plovers are sprightly birds that cavort over the foam spewed from cresting waves.
The plate 2 of this set consists of two printed sheets attached together with partial hand coloring and cut out. It may be originally a proof print (kyogo-zuri) used for the color study of this series.

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