Koi no Yatsu Fuji,
published at the New Year in 1837, is a shunga version of Satomi Hakkenden-den,
the most representative work of Kyokutei Bakin (also known as Kyokutei
Shujin), originally published in 1814-1842. Both its text and
illustrations are clever parodies of the original work. The author’s
name is given as “Kyokudori Shujin,” a perversion of “Kyokutei
Shujin” and is the pseudonym of the gesaku writer Hanagasa
Bunkyo. The illustrations are by Bukiyo Matahei, otherwise known as
Kunisada. The title is a version of the “eight tufts of hair-amulets (yatsubusa)”of
the dogs in the original work, which appear as such in the main text; but
for some reason the term is yatsu fuji in the title. The inside
title reads Nanso Sattomi Hakken-den.
To give a sense of the nature of the parody
involved, the first lines of Bakin’s work read, “When the military
prowess of the Shogun in Kyoto and his lieutenant in Kamakura began to
decline and the world (yo) fell into bitter conflict, they grew
paranoid and took refuge along the Eastern Sea (Tokai)....” The
parody begins,“When the armies of concubines (shogun) in Kyoto and
prostitutes in Kamakura began to decline and fornicate, the night (yo)
was given over to the fires of lust (Tokai)....” The illustrations also
cleverly transform the most famous scenes from the original, such as the
Battle of Horyu Castle and the parting of Shino and Hamaji, into erotic
images. The relationship between Princess Sasehime (Fusehime in the
original) and the canine hero Yatusbusa has nothing of the ambiguity it
does in the original.
It is an overt depiction of bestial relations, all covertly observed
through a telescope (
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