Publisher: Maruya Seijirō (Japanese, 1799-1863); seal name Marusei (丸清); publisher’s mark – a circle enclosing the character 清; Marks 08-090 | 299a
Block carver: Yokogawa Takejirō [横川竹二郎] (Japanese, fl. c. 1845-1863), seal: hori (carver) Take (彫竹)
Date: 1852, 12th month (XII/Kaei 5); aratame censor seals of Kinugasa (衣笠) and Murata (村田) plus date seal (子十弐), not in Marks.
Media: Aiban yoko-e uchiwa-e (団扇絵), color woodblock print, 234 x 297 mm
Actor (left): Onoe Kikugorō IV [四代目 尾上菊五郎] (Japanese, 1808-1860), held the name of Onoe Baikō IV [四代目尾上梅幸] from I/1846 to VIII/1855; other names: Onoe Eizaburō III, Onoe Kikue, Nakamura Tatsuzō, Nakamura Kachō.
Role: Nyōbō Otani (女房小谷)
Actor (Right):Nakamura Utaemon IV [中村歌右衛門] (Japanese, 1796-1852); other names: Nakamura Shikan II, Nakamura Tsurusuke I, Nakamura Tōtarō.
Role: Karaki Masaemon (唐木政右衛門)
Play:Igagoe dōchū sugoroku (伊賀越道中双六), in the variation Norikake Soga dōchū sugoroku (乗懸曽我道中双六), performed at Kawarazaki-za, 1/1847
Although issued five years after the original 1847 performance, this fan print is not a pure mitate-e. It depicts Onoe Baikō IV as Otani and Nakamura Utaemon IV as Karaki Masaemon, accurately recalling their roles in Norikake Soga dōchū sugoroku, staged at the Kawarazaki Theatre. The design closely mirrors Kunisada’s 1852 diptych from the series Tōkaidō gojūsan tsugi no uchi (Okazaki Station), suggesting that the same designs were reused for both prints. Utaemon IV died in the 2nd month of 1852, shortly before the fan print’s publication, and the image may thus serve a commemorative purpose as well as a commercial one. The print operates at the intersection of mitate-e, seasonal fan design, travel-themed series, and memorial portraiture — a hybrid work reflecting the layered visual culture of late Edo printmaking.
A reference image from Kunisada’s Tōkaidō: Riddles in Japanese Woodblock Prints by Andreas Marks. — Leden: Hotei Publishing, 2013 [LIB-1178.2016].
Marks Tōkaidō Riddles T63-39A & 39, p. 149.
This pseudo-diptych is connected to the grim and complex Okazaki winter scene of the vendetta play Journeying through Iga Province along a Sugoroku Game (Igagoe dochu sugoro-ku). Karaki Masaemon helps his brother-in-law Wada Shizuma avenge the death of his father. Shizuma disguises himself as the murderer Sawai Matagoro to deceive Matagoro’s fiancée into revealing his hiding place; however, Otani, Masaemon’s wife, appears with her infant, carrying a note revealing that the child is Masaemon’s son. To avoid discovery, Masaemon kills his child. Utaemon IV and Baikö IV performed in the depicted roles in the variation Boarding a Soga Travel Sugoroku Game (Norikake Soga dochu sugoroku), Kawarazaki Theatre, 1/1847.
