Chikanobu's Twenty-four Paragons of Filial Piety - The Chinese scholar Guo Jujing wrote the book "The Twenty-four Paragons of Filial Devotion" during the Yuan Dynasty. Inspired by the loss of his own parents, he scoured history for examples of the most respectful and devoted children. Alluding to the famous stories of the twenty-four children and their extraordinary devotion to their parents and relatives, Chikanobu's series juxtaposes the paragon in the upper panel with a more modern equivalent below. The artist plays off the old stories, offering serious parallels as well as lighthearted and humorous contrasts in the modern versions.

No. 11, Jiang Shi: A Miraculous Spring, 1890 - Charming image of a young boy wading in a pond with a net to catch koi fish. A beauty sits on a bench beside him, smiling at the child over her shoulder. She wears a lavender and purple print kimono tied with a red obi, and holds a red fan. The paragon shown above comes from a tale about Jiang Shi (Kyoshi in Japanese) and his wife, whose mother preferred the taste of river water over that from their own spring. Each day, the pair would travel six miles to the river bring back water and fresh fish for the mother, never once complaining. The filial couple was rewarded when one day, a new spring rose up in the back yard, with miraculous water that tasted like that of the river. Each day, two koi fish came to the surface of the spring, to be caught for the mother to eat. A lovely design, beautifully colored and detailed.

Artist - Chikanobu (1838 - 1912)

Image Size - 13 1/4" x 8 3/4" + margins as shown

Condition - This print with excellent color and detail as shown. Small loss and tear at edges, a few holes, repaired. Slight toning and creasing. Please see photos for details. Good overall.