Utagawa Kunisada (Toyokuni III). Kabuki actor Iwai Kumesaburō II as An no Heibei, from the series 'Flowers of Edo – the five Karigane blood-brothers' / Fan print, 1829.

Artist: Utagawa Kunisada, a.k.a. Toyokuni III (Japanese, 1786 – 1865) [歌川 国貞].

Publisher: Ibaya Senzaburō [伊場屋仙三郎] (Japanese, fl. C. 1845 – 1847).

Date aratame seal: Bunsei 12 (1829).

Signed: Gototei Kunisada ga [五渡亭国貞画].

Media: Fan print (uchiwa-e), 272 x 235 mm.

Actor: Iwai Hanshirō VI (Japanese, 1799 – 1836); other names: Iwai Hanshirō VI, Iwai Kumesaburō II, Iwai Hisajirō I, Baiga [梅我] (poetry name), Shūka (poetry name).

The background is Arare-ko-mon [霰小紋] hail pattern.

Kabuki actor Iwai Kumesaburō II in the role of An no Heibei [安の平兵衛] in the drama Otokodate Itsutsu Karigane [男作五雁金] (Play, 7 acts. Produced 1742/09). From Lyon collection: The real An no Heibei (ca. 1672-1702): "In a gang with Kaitate no Kichiemon, Hote no Ichiemon, Mippiki Jihei and others as of the Seventh Month of 1697. Attacked people with a sword on the sixth day, Seventh Month, 1699, which he then secreted with Kichiemon. On the evening of the sixth day, Sixth Month, 1701, stabbed Kibei, an employee of Kawachiya Gohei of the residential quarter Kyuhoji, in the side with a dagger. A subsequent police investigation resulted in Heibei's arrest the following day. Beheaded at the execution grounds located at Sennichi Mae on the twenty-sixth day of the Eighth Month, 1702."

Note: According to Horst Graebner, the actor's name below the series title in the cartouche is Baiga (梅我), the poetry name of Iwai Kumesaburō II. On the other prints in this series, the actors are also named on the other prints with their poetry names. In the red cartouche at the top left is the series title "Edo no hana – itsutsu Karigane" (江戸の花 五雁金), to be translated as "Flowers of Edo - the five Karigane blood-brothers" (or "the five Karigane gang members"). "Since there was no performance with the Karigane brothers from 1829, these must be mitate prints", states Mr Graebner.