Utagawa Kunisada (Toyokuni III). The Three Cities: Wisteria Blossoming at Kameido / Fan print, 1849-51.

Title: The Three Cities: Wisteria Blossoming at Kameido [三都 亀戸のふじ] Santo Kameido no fuji

Description: Bust-length portrait of a male actor, facing three-quarter left, identified by facial likeness as Ichikawa Ebizō V [市川海老蔵 五代目] (1791–1859), seated beneath cascading wisteria blossoms (fuji, 藤) at Kameido [亀戸]. He wears an outer kimono patterned with stylized shrimp (ebi, 海老)—an emblematic motif of the Ebizō line of actors—and round bellflower (kikyō, 桔梗) crests, with a black collar and layered red, black, and purple undergarments visible at the neckline. In his right hand, he holds a pipe (kiseru, 煙管), while his left elbow rests on the carrying pole of a palanquin (norimon, 乗物).
The background shows hanging sprays of wisteria against a graded sky. At upper right is the title cartouche; below appears the signature Toyokuni ga [豊國画] in a red toshidama cartouche, with the censor seals Fuku [福] and Muramatsu [村松] placed above it. The publisher’s seal hanmoto ue [板元上] appears at the right edge of the image.
The title Santo (“Three Cities,” usually referring to Edo, Kyoto, and Osaka) suggests the existence of two further designs in the series. The absence of a date seal, together with the joint activity of the Fuku and Muramatsu censors, places the print between 1849 and 1851 (Kaei 2–4), prior to the introduction of mandatory date seals in the 2nd month of 1852.

Actor: Ichikawa Ebizō V assumed the name Ichikawa Danjūrō VII in 1807; by the time this print was published, he was performing under that name. Ichikawa Shinnosuke I (1794–1797), Ichikawa Ebizō V (1797–1807), Ichikawa Hakuen II, Ichikawa Danjūrō VII (1807–1859); Other names: Ichikawa Jukai I (poetry name), Matsumoto Kōshirō, Hatagaya Jūzō, Naritaya Shichizaemon II, Ichikawa Sanshō IV (poetry name); Guild: Naritaya.

Location: Kameido was closely associated with wisteria through the Kameido Tenjin Shrine, famous for its wisteria blossoms and the annual wisteria-viewing festival, from late April to early May, making the flower a locational identifier rather than a purely decorative motif.