Artist:
Utagawa Kunisada [歌川 国貞] a.k.a. Utagawa Toyokuni III [三代歌川豊国] (Japanese, 1786 – 1865).
Artist signature: By the brush of the 79-year-old Toyokuni [七十九歳豊國画] (Nanajūkyū-sai Toyokuni ga).
Publisher:
Ebiya Rinnosuke [海老屋林之助] (Japanese, fl. c. 1832 – 1895); seal: ト/ 海老林 (to, Ebirin).
Block carver: Matsushima Masakichi [松島政吉]; seal: carved by Masa [彫政] (Hori Masa).
Combined date seal and kiwame censor seal: [子極] 1864 (Bunkyū 4/Genji 1).
Media: Untrimmed fan print (uchiwa-e), 223 x 297 mm.
Inscription in the cartouches: (R) Wakana-hime [若菜姫], Sawamura Tanosuke III [沢村田之助]; (L) Ashikaga Sanshichirō [足利三七郎], Sawamura Tosshō II [沢村訥升].
Play: Kinoene Soga Daikoku-bashira [甲子曽我大国柱], performed at the Morita theatre [森田座・守田座] (
Morita-za) in 1864 (Bunkyū 4/Genji 1), 2nd month (see
playbill at MFA-Boston Collection).
Playwright:
Muraoka Kōji II [村岡幸治].
Actors and Characters:
Sawamura Tanosuke III [三代目沢村田之助] (Japanese, 1859 – 1878); other names: Shozan [曙山] (poetry name), Sawamura Yoshijirō I [初代沢村由次郎], here in the role of
Princess Wakana [若菜姫] (Wakana-hime) (R). The story about Princess Wakana,
Shiranui Monogatari, was written by
Ryukatei Tanekazu [柳下亭種員] (Japanese, 1807 – 1858) and published as a 90-volume book of comics between 1849 and 1855. ...The tale revolves around the clash between the
Kikuchi and
Ōtomo clans. Princess Wakana’s father
Ōtomo Sōrin [大友 宗麟] (1530 – 1587) was killed in a battle, and his spirit demanded revenge. To appease her late father's spirit, Princes Wakana acquired the power of the Earth Spider. She often appears in prints with a magic scroll, which helps her fight various enemies.
Sawamura Tosshō II [二代目沢村訥升] (Japanese, 1854 – 1879); other names: Kōga [高賀] (poetry name), Sawamura Genpei II [二代目沢村源平], Sawamura Sōjūrō [澤村宗十郎], Suketakaya Takasuke IV [四代目助高屋高助], Sawamura Tosshi VI [六代目澤村訥子] (poetry name), here in the role of
Ashikaga Sanshichirō [足利三七郎] (L) with a horse. According to Markus Sesko, the scene comes from the kabuki play
Umakiri (馬斬り) by
Tatsuoka Mansaku [辰岡万作] (17432 – 1809), which premiered in 1794. It was later assimilated into the Kabuki play
Kozotte Mimasu Kuruwa no Datezome [襷廓三升伊達染], which was staged in the 1st lunar month of 1853 at the Nakamura-za.
Umakiri is based on a
Kyōgen play featured in Hideyoshi’s biography
Taikōki [太閤記]. Its plot is that Ashikaga Sanchichirō Yoshitaka [足利三七郎義孝・義高], who is supposed to allude to Nobunaga’s son
Oda Sanshichirō Nobutaka [織田三七郎信孝], attacks and kills a horse that is carrying 3,000
ryō (金三千両), money Mashiba Hisayoshi [真柴久吉] (an allusion to
Hashiba Hideyoshi [羽柴秀吉]) had sent to be donated to a shrine on
Mt. Kōya. The surrounding people try to catch him, but when they hear it is Yoshitaka who killed the horse, they fall to the ground and prostrate, and Yoshitaka leisurely leaves with the money. The plot is very simple, but Yoshitaka’s dashing appearance makes it very pleasing to watch. There are also prints that quote the main protagonist as Ashikaga Sanshichirō Harutaka [足利三七郎春高], and there is another title for the play,
Sanzen-Ryō Kogane no Kurairi [三千両黄金蔵入] (Pocketing 3,000
ryō of gold). For reference, see also the
BLOG.
What these two characters are doing in one play remains a riddle. As Mr Graebner comments: "Most kabuki plays were only performed for one season (two months), and the books were lost. The playwrights have repeatedly used parts of plots from other plays, they have adopted characters, sometimes with the same or similar names. What can be found is the Kabuki Playbill (Tsuji banzuke) with cast and roles; the content is lost".
MBA-Boston Accession number 11.28192
: Special thanks to Horst Graebner of the
Kunisada Project and to
Markus Sesko of The Metropolitan Museum, NY, for the analysis of the image and their invaluable contribution.
For reference, see also:
As Japanese Erotic Fantasies put it: "a couple engaged in love-making, their stare fixed outside the picture plane". This is the only image of series that has a reference in available western literature, and the only one found in museum collections: Rijksmuseum Amsterdam (RP-P-1999-2001-16); reference: Fukuda (ed.) (1990), pls. 11-2.
The scene of this print looks quite similar to that of the Kiyonaga's Sode no maki:
The woman is "a young lady-in-waiting of Shogun's Court or Daimyō's Mansion, enjoying a rare outing from her tedious chores" [Richard Lane]. She is fully dressed in her outer cloak (shikake), white paper hat (agebōshi or tsunokakushi), and toed socks (tabi). A book or maybe, onkotogami (roll of tissues known as 'paper for honourable act' ) is still in the folds of her kimono. She is holding an open fan, either to cover her and her lover's faces from an unsolicited witness or to bring some fresh air to their joined lips. The pair just started their sexual intercourse.
A scene from medieval times. A courtier in eboshi cap having sex with an aristocratic young woman with a long straight hairstyle (suihatsu).
Completely naked couple in the moment of ejaculation. Lavish garments with paulownia leaves on a yellow background counterbalance the white bodies on red bedding. The form of a woman's cheeks is telling, but I don't know about what. Maybe her advanced age?
The pose of the couple and the overall composition are similar to that of the previous sheet. Though the lovers are dressed, and the woman's hairdo is well kept. The male looks older and the woman - younger.
A man takes a young maid from behind. She clenches the sleeve of her kimono in her teeth; it's either the moment of penetration (beginning of intercourse) or of her orgasm (the end of it).
This seems to be a forced intercourse between a lackey with extensive bodily hair and a young maid from the same household.
This design is very much like the other one presented below, which is described at Japanese Erotic Fantasies on page 136 (pl. 43b) as follows: "The viewer peers through a mosquito net to see a child fast asleep, while his mother or wet-nurse moves towards her partner. On our print there is no child; instead of a sleeping baby, there is a roll of onkotogami. Fewer objects make the overall image concise, almost laconic in comparison with the Ehon hana fubuki (1802) design:
A young couple in a moment of true love. He is listening to the beating of her heart.
This is a moment of true love between an old monk and a young samurai. The latter even did not take of his socks (tabi).
From Japanese Erotic Fantasies: "Boats played a crucial role in the workings of Yoshiwara, as they were the primary means of transport to the district. During the hot summer months, trips on pleasure boats were also a favourite pastime. Sex aboard a boat is a recurrent theme in shunga".
The last print that I am currently lacking and hunting for:
I know where it is, but I cannot reach it... yet. 
Uncut fan print (uchiwa-e) depicting Onoe Kikugorō IV as Karukaya Dōshin parting from his son, Ishidomaru (played by Ichimura Uzaemon XIII), and Kawarasaki Gonjūrō I as Yamazakiya Yogoro in the kabuki play Karukaya Dōshin Tsukushi no Iezuto [苅萱桑門筑紫𨏍], written by 
