Fukutomi-Zoshi
| Area | Art |
|---|---|
| Collection name | |
| Age | Around the late Muromachi period (1467-1573) (the Warring States period) (1467-1573) |
| Century | Around the 16th century |
| Creator | |
| Pronunciation of the creator’s name | |
| Date (year, month, day) | |
| Year (Christian Era) | |
| Volume | One scroll |
| Material | Painted on a sheet of paper |
| Size | 34.0×960.8 |
| Designation |
Explanation
Short stories that were mainly in fashion in the Muromachi period (1392-1573) are widely referred to as otogizoshi (books of illustrated stories). Similar to stories of literature these books of illustrated stories took the form of horizontal picture scrolls and were depicted as paintings. However, with the expansion of the audience who enjoyed those books over time, they also became popular in the form of booklets, such as illustrated storybooks and illustrated printed books.
Fukutomi-Zoshi is a comical story describing the contrast between a man who became rich from the art of farting and a man who envied the man for his success and tried to imitate him but whose attempts ended in fiasco. This story is roughly classified into two types by the difference in the names and notes of these men and still exists as a two-volume book and a one-volume book for a picture scroll. Materials contained in the Fushimi-no-miya document indicate that the storybook was produced before the mid-15th century.
The one-volume book, considered to be produced after the two-volume book, gives a brief account of the success and rise of the man who became rich from the art of farting, which is described in the first volume of the two-volume book, and was made into a shorter story, large parts of which are occupied by the whole story of the latter man who tried to imitate the former man but whose attempts ended in fiasco, which corresponds to the second volume of the two-volume book. It’s the picture style is almost the same as that of the second volume. The book in our possession is also of this type. There are just a few notes in the scene at the beginning of the story, which suggests little intention of clearly describing the developments from the first story.
The picture is colorful and animated. In addition, the storybook shows typical storybook pictures with notes and a picture on a screen, and a conversation inserted in the screen to make the characters speak about how the story develops. Based on the style, the storybook is considered to be produced in the late Muromachi period (1467-1573). In this connection, for the two-volume book, the Shumpoin Book (an important cultural property) and the Cleveland Museum of Art Book (only the second volume), both of which are considered to be produced in the early 15th century, are famous.
(The Collection of Works in the Possession of the Hyogo Prefectural Museum of History, 1992, written by Satoru Chinen)