Kawanabe Kyosai woodblock “Putting Her Husband Under Her Behind; Mud on Husband’s Face”, Edo satire 1863–66

Artist: Kawanabe Kyosai (1831–1889)
Series: One Hundred Pictures by Kyosai (暁斎百図, Kyosai Hyakuzu)
Date: ca. 1863–1866 (late Edo period)
Publishers: first issued by Wakasaya Yoichi (若狭屋与市) in the 1860s; reissued by Okura Magobei (大倉孫兵衛) in the 1880s
Format: chūban (approx. 13 × 18 cm)
Medium: polychrome woodblock print (nishiki-e) on handmade washi paper

This satirical print illustrates two well-known Japanese proverbs:
– Teishū o shiri ni shiku (亭主を尻に敷く) — “to sit on one’s husband,” meaning a wife who dominates her spouse;
– Teishū no kao e doro o nuru (亭主の顔へ泥を塗る) — “to smear mud on a husband’s face,” meaning to disgrace or humiliate him.

Kyosai combines both sayings in a grotesque domestic comedy where the wife literally sits on her husband while others cover his face with mud. Beneath the humor lies a moral parable on vanity and the reversal of social order, one of the central ideas in Kyosai’s work.

The series One Hundred Pictures by Kyosai was published twice in the 19th century: first in the 1860s and later in the 1880s. We tend to attribute this impression to the first edition (ca. 1863–1866), characterized by vivid color, fine linework, and lively brush energy.

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