Utagawa Toyokuni I. Kabuki actor Iwai Hanshirō V as Asaho / Fan print, 1819.

Artist: Utagawa Toyokuni I [初代豊国] (Japanese, 1769–1825)
Signed: Toyokuni ga [豊国画].
Publisher: Iseya Sōemon [伊勢屋惣右衛門] (Japanese, c. 1776–November 1862); Marks 02-041 | 156a; publisher’s logo “ue” (上) under double roof (partially trimmed).
Date-Aratame Seal: hare/aratame (u; 卯/改) – 1819 – Bunsei 2
Media: Fan print (uchiwa-e), 224 × 252 mm
Genre: Yakusha-e, 役者絵);
Play: Ume Yanagi Wakaba no Kagazome (梅柳若葉加賀染)
Theater: Tamagawa-za (玉川座), Edo, May 1819

Actor: Iwai Hanshirō V [五代目 岩井半四郎] (Japanese, 1776–1847); other names: Iwai Tojaku, Iwai Kumesaburō I.

Role: Asaho [あさほ] or Asazuma [あさづま].

Description: Bust-length, three-quarter-view portrait of Iwai Hanshirō V in the role of Asaho from Ume Yanagi Wakaba no Kagazome, staged at the Tamagawa-za in May 1819. The actor appears in a female costume with an elaborate coiffure secured by combs and hairpins. The head is turned slightly to the right, and one hand is raised. Her inner kimono is safflower-dyed and has a hemp leaf pattern (麻の葉, asa no ha). The top half of the background features a giant golden carp (鯉, koi), a recurring motif in this series of prints, which alludes to Boys' Day (Tango no Sekku, 端午の節句), celebrated on May 5th each year. The series includes the portrait of Ichikawa Danjūrō VII as Yushima no Sankichi [SVJP-0439.2025] and Segawa Kikunojō V as Kurenaiya Okan [SVJP-0440.2025] (see below). Handwritten Japanese text in cursive script (kuzushiji), written in black ink in vertical columns on the backing paper; content unidentified.

[With the help of Horst Graebner of the Kunisada Project].

Note 1: A related fan print by Utagawa Kunisada bears the printed title 「紅やおかん 瀬川菊之丞」「ゆしまの三吉 市川団十郎」「あさほ 岩井半四郎」, depicting Segawa Kikunojō V as Kurenaiya Okan, Ichikawa Danjūrō VII as Yushima no Sankichi, and Iwai Hanshirō V as Asaho. The print is published by Ibaya Sensaburō (伊場屋仙三郎) and carries a date–aratame seal 卯改, indicating Bunsei 2 (1819), Edo. The associated performance is recorded as Ume Yanagi Wakaba no Kagazome (梅柳若葉加賀染), staged at the Tamagawa-za (玉川座), Edo, in the 5th month of 1819. This print corroborates the identification of the roles and performance context for the present work.

Note 2: Ume Yanagi Wakaba no Kagazome (梅柳若葉加賀染), written by Tsuruya Namboku IV [(四代目鶴屋南北] (Japanese, 1755–1829) and first staged in 1819, is a kabuki play classified as a Yanagisawa-sōdōmono (柳沢騒動物), a group of dramas that transpose the Yanagisawa Affair—the political dispute involving the fifth shōgun Tokugawa Tsunayoshi and his advisor Yanagisawa Yoshiyasu—into a fictional contemporary setting. In accordance with kabuki convention, the historical conflict is not presented directly but is reworked through townspeople characters and domestic intrigue within the framework of sewamono (contemporary-life drama). The title’s reference to Kaga-dyed textiles (加賀染) combined with seasonal imagery of plum, willow, and fresh leaves functions as a poetic designation rather than a plot summary. The play featured principal roles including Kurenaiya Okan, Yushima no Sankichi, and Asaho; in the Edo performance of the fifth lunar month of 1819, these roles were performed respectively by Segawa Kikunojō V, Ichikawa Danjūrō VII, and Iwai Hanshirō V.