Utagawa Kuniyoshi. Sawamura Tosshō I as Okabe Rokuyata and Iwai Shijaku I as Sugawara (alias Kiku-no-mae) / Fan print, 1841.

Artist: Utagawa Kuniyoshi [歌川 国芳] (Japanese, 1797–1861)
Signed: 一勇斎國芳画 (Ichiyūsai Kuniyoshi ga)
Publisher: Ibaya Senzaburō [伊場屋仙三郎] (fl. c. 1815–1869)
Seal: San (三) in a circle; Marks 08-067 | 127b
Date–Aratame Seal: 1841 (Tenpō 12, 天保十二年), Year of the Ox (丑); oval seal reading 改丑
Media: Woodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and colour on paper; uchiwa-e (rigid fan print, 団扇絵); 230 × 269 mm

Actors:

Sawamura Tosshō I (澤村 訥升, 1802–1853), other names Sawamura Gennosuke II [沢村源之助], Suketakaya Takasuke III, Sawamura Chōjūrō V, Sawamura Sōjūrō V [沢村 宗十郎], Sawamura Genpei I, Sawamura Tosshi V; Poetry names: Kōga, Tosshi V, Tosshō; Guild: Kinokuniya

• as Okabe Rokuyata (岡部六弥太), left

Iwai Shijaku I (岩井 紫若, 1804–1845), other names Iwai Matsunosuke I [岩井松之助], Iwai Hanshirō VII, Iwai Komurasaki I

• as Sugawara (disguised as Kiku-no-mae) (けいせい菅原 実は 菊の前), right

Play: Ichinotani futaba gunki (一谷嫩軍記), Act IV, “Rokuyata’s Villa”

Theater: Kawarasaki-za, Edo, 4th month, 1841 (Tenpō 12)

Three-quarter-length portraits of two kabuki actors set against a plain blue ground. At left, Okabe Rokuyata (Tosshō) raises a jingasa (war cap) and wears a dark floral-patterned robe tied with a blue cord. At right, Sugawara, disguised as the courtesan Kiku-no-mae (Shijaku), appears in elaborate layered robes and a high coiffure adorned with ornamental hairpins. Actor names and character roles are inscribed vertically to left and right.

The scene is drawn from Act IV (“Rokuyata’s Villa”) of Ichinotani futaba gunki (The Chronicle of the Battle of Ichinotani), which dramatizes episodes from the Genji-Heike conflict of 1184. Rokuyata has received secret orders to kill Kiku-no-mae, who is in fact Sugawara, the lover of the enemy general Atsumori. A further hidden instruction demands that he kill a substitute instead. This emotionally tense episode was performed at the Kawarasaki-za in the 4th month of 1841 (Tenpō 12), with Sawamura Tosshō I and Iwai Shijaku I in the depicted roles. Though no longer part of the modern repertoire, the scene was familiar to audiences of the time, and this uchiwa-e may commemorate the staging.

The publisher’s seal below Rokuyata’s hand represents the character San (三) in a circle, identifying Ibaya Senzaburō. The oval censor-date seal reads 改丑, indicating approval in 1841 (Tenpō 12, Year of the Ox).

Catalogue raisonné: Fan Pictures by Kuniyoshi: Cats, Kabuki Actors, and Girls (in Japanese). — Tokyo: Ōta Memorial Museum of Art, 2012; № 60, p. 54 (image), p. 154 (description) [LIB-3466.2025] (Kuniyoshi no uchiwa-e: neko to kabuki to chyakyachyaki musume, 国芳の団扇絵 猫と歌舞伎とチャキチャキ娘).