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영어

This thesis examines the artistic characters of Ukiyoe and Horimono, two representative folk culture in Edo era(1603~1867), so called Japanese Renaissance, and their relation. Due to the development of commodity money economy in Edo era, the population of urban merchants and craftmen, Chōnin(townsman), grew and so did new cultural genres such as literature, fine arts, or performances. Ukiyoye was a kind of woodprint which mainly used important illustrations from popular dramas and novels, or portraits of Kabuki actors or prostitutes. Due to its cheap prices and mass production, Ukiyoe soon became one of the most popular genres. Among many Ukiyoe painters sketching heros who criticize society, Katsushika Hokusai(1760~1849) and Utagawa Kuniyoshi(1798-1861) stand out. Especially, the latter is famous for his characters from "Tsūzoku Suikoden Gōketsu Hyakuhachinin no Hitori(One of the 108 Heroes of the Popular Water Margin)). He depicted tatoos on the body of the lower dramatis personae gradually accepted as symbolic heros by the common people. Tattoo devotees came to use this Ukiyoe as a basic design when tatooing, which later on foster a new genre, “Horimono.” Edo people engraved this Horimono on their bodies to prevent from dangers or bad fortunes. This novel cultural trend was again depicted in Ukiyoe woodcuts or Kabuki dramas and became one of three most representative Edo popular genres. Since the late 19th century, Horimono, while Uikyoe became the most famous Japanese art reevaluated and adapted by some impressionist painters such as Claude Monet(1840~1926) or Vincent van Gogh(1853~1890). Overall, this study analyzes Ukiyoe and Horimono as the two artistic media representing feelings and consciousness of Edo common people. Ukiyoe and Horimono are meaningful in offering a way to scrutinize the pre-modern Japanese society as well as contemporary tatoo culture in Japan.