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Scenes of Hell and Heaven


地獄極楽図
Utagawa Kuniyoshi (Japanese, 1797–1861)
Publisher: Tsutaya Kichizô (Kôeidô) (Japanese)
Japanese
Edo period
about 1830–35 (Tenpô 1–6)

Medium/Technique Woodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper
Dimensions Vertical ôban triptych; 36.5 x 77.7 cm (14 3/8 x 30 9/16 in.)
Credit Line William Sturgis Bigelow Collection
Accession Number11.38190a-c
NOT ON VIEW
ClassificationsPrints

Amid red flames, the Ten Kings of Hell, led by ferocious King Enma, pronounce judgment on sinners who are them subjected to various tortures such as boiling in a gigantic cauldron. At the upper left is a glimpse of the palaces of Heaven, and the riverbank where the merciful bodhisattva Jizō ministers to the souls of children who died in infancy.

Catalogue Raisonné Ôta Mem. Mus., Edo yôkai dai zukan (2014), #170; Iwakiri 2011, #111; Shibuya Kuritsu Shôtô Bijutsukan, Ukiyoeshitachi no shinbutsu (1999), #29; Suzuki et al., Utagawa Kuniyoshi ten (1996), #101; Inagaki and Isao, Kuniyoshi no kyôga (1991), #172
Signed Ichiyûsai Kuniyoshi ga (on each sheet)
一勇斎国芳画
ProvenanceBy 1911, purchased by William Sturgis Bigelow (b. 1850–d. 1926), Boston [see note 1]; 1911, gift of Bigelow to the MFA. (Accession Date: January 19, 2005)

NOTES:
[1] Much of Bigelow's collection of Asian art was formed during his residence in Japan between 1882 and 1889, although he also made acquisitions in Europe and the United States. Bigelow deposited many of these objects at the MFA in 1890 before donating them to the Museum's collection at later dates.