Mongaku Shonin Doing his Penance beneath Nachi Waterfall

Utagawa Kuniyoshi, Japanese, 1798 - 1861

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about 1852-1853

Color woodblock print

Oban tate-e triptych

Overall: 14 1/16 × 9 13/16 in. (35.7 × 25 cm)

Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth: Purchased through a gift from the E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation

2005.54.2

Geography

Place Made: Japan, East Asia, Asia

Period

19th century

Object Name

Print

Research Area

Print

Not on view

Label

This print shows the penitent End, hands clasped in a ritual gesture, praying under Nachi Waterfall to atone for his heinous crime. After days under the freezing torrent of Japan’s tallest waterfall, End is rescued by the Buddhist deity Fud My and his two attendants, Kongara and Seitaka, just as he is about to succumb to Nachi’s torrent. End then shaves his head and becomes a monk, taking the name Mongaku Shonin. The war chronicles upon which this narrative is based have much to say about his life as monk. Mongaku applied his aggressive tendencies to the task of raising funds to renovate temples that had fallen into disrepair. His unrelenting persistence, sometimes coupled with threats of violence, earned him a reputation as a highly successful fundraiser. Many print artists commemorated contemporary performances of Mongaku’s Vow at Nachi Falls with depictions of his penance. Kuniyoshi’s ingenious use of a vertical triptych to emphasize the height and power of Nachi Falls—Japan’s tallest cascade—sets his approach to this subject apart from his predecessors, contemporaries, and followers.

From the 2019 exhibition Narratives in Japanese Woodblock Prints, guest curated by Allen Hockley, Associate Professor of Art History at Dartmouth

Course History

ARTH 65, Japanese Prints, Allen Hockley, Winter 2012

ARTH 65, Japanese Prints, Allen Hockley, Spring 2013

ARTH 65, Japanese Prints, Allen Hockley, Winter 2015

ARTH 65, Japanese Prints, Allen Hockley, Summer 2015

ARTH 65, Japanese Prints, Allen Hockley, Summer 2015

ARTH 62.3, Japanese Prints, Allen Hockley, Winter 2019

ARTH 62.30/ASCL 62.12, Japanese Prints, Allen Hockley, Spring 2021

ARTH 62.30/ASCL 62.12, Japanese Prints, Allen Hockley, Spring 2022

Art History 62.30, Asian Societies, Cultures, and Languages 62.12, Japanese Prints, Allen Hockley, Spring 2023

Art History 62.30, Asian Societies, Cultures, and Languages 62.12, Japanese Prints, Allen Hockley, Summer 2023

Exhibition History

Japanese Prints in the Hood Museum of Art: Recent Acquisitions, Owen Robertson Cheatham Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire [in conjunction with The Women of Shin Hanga: The Judith and Joseph Barker Collection of Japanese Prints, April 6-July 28, 2013.

Narratives in Japanese Woodblock Prints, Class of 1967 Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, March 27-June 9, 2019.

Publication History

John R. Stomberg, The Hood Now: Art and Inquiry at Dartmouth, Hanover, New Hampshire: Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, 2019, p. 118, ill. plate no. 49.

Provenance

Sebastian Izzard LLC, New York, New York; sold to present collection, 2005.

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