Yamauba and Kintaro
This is the popular Yamauba and Kintaro story interpreted by Nagasawa Rosetsu. Nagasawa Rosetsu was of the lesser nobility. Uesugi Kiouemon was a samurai of the Yodo clan in the Yamashiro province. Nagasawa Rosetsu would become one of Japan’s greatest artists thanks to his skill and unique style. His iconoclastic style changes the story’s presentation in drastic ways.
The piece is rectangular in shape and done on paper with ink. It is a monochrome work of blacks and whites using varying brush strokes and ink. A large figure dominates the work. Her form pushes the boundaries of the piece the rest of her body filling the work. A smaller figure clings to the right side of the large figure's body his head upturned looking at the larger figure. The background seems minimalist in contrast to the distinct among of detail in the two figures and their adornments. There is a bit of calligraphic script in the right side level with the larger figure's face.
The large figure is that of a woman. She appears very old with wrinkles and wild white hair, though that may be an effect of the lack of color. She has a hooked nose. The most notable aspect of her is her misshapen teeth which stick out over her bottom lip. There is a sense of decay about the woman. Her robes, while at first seeming to be well appointed, are in fact ragged and tattered, her large fan full of holes and ragged bit. This perhaps underscores her age and decrepitude. This is Yamauba the wild mountain wise woman. In the stories she is a rage-filled powerful sorcerer who defies society and lives wild in the mountains. The artist has changed her appearance making her seem like a wizened crone who stares at the viewer. Yamauba in other works is often a sexually charged being; here that sexual nature is absent.
The smaller figure is a dark-skinned child the chubby child has kinky black hair and dark skin. The child wears a small slip of cloth that seems just as frayed as the old woman's. The child clings to her robe and belt with one hand while his other hand is held in the old woman's. This is the hero Kintaro as a child. He was raised by Yamauba in the mountains. Some say he was her son, others that she found him. Kintaro is famous for his great strength and power. He avenges great wrongs and acts in a heroic manner despite his wild background. In other works he is pictured much like a nobleman’s son with his hair in a pony tail and with good grooming. This Kintaro is wild looking and seems ot be uncivilized.