Artist: Utagawa Kunisada [歌川 国貞] a.k.a. Utagawa Toyokuni III [三代歌川豊国] (Japanese, 1786 – 1865)
Signature: Kunisada ga [国貞画] in a red double-gourd cartouche
Publisher: Ibaya Senzaburō [伊場屋仙三郎] (Japanese, fl. c. 1815 – 1869); seal: san (三) in a circle to verso
Date seal: Year of the Snake (巳, mi), Tenpō 4, 1833, to verso
Censor seal: kiwame (極, approved), to verso
Media: Woodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper; double-sided fan print (uchiwa-e); 225 x 295 mm
Series: Tosei rok’kasen or Tosei rokkasen [當世六花撰] – two translations: (1) by Sebastian Izzard: Six choice modern flowers, (2) by Horst Graebner: Modern Six [Immortal] Poets
Character: Bandō Mitsugorō IV [四代目 坂東 三津五郎] (Japanese, 1802–1863); other names: Bandō Minosuke II, Morita Kan’ya XI; guild and poetry name: Yamatoya Shūkō (やまとやしうこう)
Poet: Sōjō Henjō [僧正遍昭] (Japanese, 816–890), also known as Yoshimine no Munesada (良岑宗貞) – one of Six Immortal Poets (六歌仙, rokkasen)
Provenance: Nelkin Collection
A double-sheet uncut fan print featuring a half-length, three-quarter view, turned to the right portrait of Kabuki actor Bandō Mitsugorō IV. He holds his right arm folded inward, hand curled in a fist, while his left hand clasps the collar of his garment. He wears a checkered blue outer kimono patterned with a bamboo lattice motif, over a red inner robe with a black collar, rendered in urushi-e (漆絵). His hair is styled in the typical Edo-period male fashion with the front shaved.
An inscription in cursive hiragana behind him reads: Sōjō Henjō (僧正遍昭) and Yamatoya Shūkō (やまとやしうこう)—the first being the name of one of the “Six Immortal Poets” of medieval Japan, the second the guild and poetry name of Bandō Mitsugorō IV.
The series title Tōsei Rokkasen (当世六歌撰) appears in the red cartouche to the right, and the artist’s signature is in the double-gourd red cartouche to the left. The background features a vertically banded gradient from green to purple, decorated with textile-style floral roundels centered with mokko (木瓜) motifs.
The reverse side features a decorative design with the same floral roundels in green and blue. A paper slip (tanzaku, 短冊) with red cloud-like decorations is positioned diagonally across the composition. It contains a calligraphic inscription in cursive script. Three seals—publisher, approval, and date—are in the lower right quadrant of the print.
Ref: (1) [LIB-2967.2022] Utagawa Kunisada (1786 – 1865): His world revisited / Catalogue № 17, Exhibition March 17-21, 2021. — NY: Sebastian Izzard, LLC., 2021; p. 130-1. (2) [LIB-1212.2017] Robert Schaap. Kunisada: Imaging, drama and beauty. — Leiden: Hotei Publishing, 2016, p. 58.
[With help from Horst Graebner of Kunisada Project].
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| Bandō Mitsugorō IV — Sōjō Henjō | Sawamura Tosshō I — Ariwara Narihira |
