Artist: After Utagawa Kuniteru II [歌川国輝] (Japanese, 1830 – 1876), possibly by Gyokuei [玉英]

Publisher: No seal

Date: No date; the original Kuniteru’s print dated Meiji 2 (1869)

Media: Woodblock colour print, chūban uchiwa-e (fan print), 230 x 245 mm

This fan print reproduces, in miniature, Kuniteru’s 1869 triptych commemorating a sumo fundraising event at Sensō-ji Temple (浅草寺, Sensō-ji, also known as 金龍山, Kinryūzan) in Asakusa (浅草, Asakusa). The scene is framed as a hanging votive painting (ema, 絵馬) bordered in red and gold. Centred is the yokozuna Jinmaku Kyūgorō (陣幕久五郎, Jinmaku Kyūgorō) performing the shiko (四股) leg-stomping pose, flanked by two other wrestlers.

Seated at left is gyoji (行司) Kimura Shōnosuke (木村庄之助, Kimura Shōnosuke) with his war fan, and at right are Shachi-no-umi Umekichi (鯱ノ海梅吉, Shachi-no-umi Umekichi) holding a sword, and stablemasters Aioi Matsugorō (相生松五郎, Aioi Matsugorō) and Tamagaki (玉垣, Tamagaki). Also present is the gunbai-holding referee, Shikimori Inosuke (式守伊之助, Shikimori Inosuke).

The background represents a stylized sumo danpatsu-shiki (断髪式) setting. This uchiwa-e version may have been distributed as a commemorative gift to donors who supported the temple.

金龍山浅草寺奉額縮図 (Kinryūzan Sensōji Hōgaku Shukuzu)