Artist: Utagawa Hiroshige II (二代目 歌川広重] (Japanese, 1826 – 1869). Signed: Hiroshige ga. Publisher: Iseya Sōemon [伊勢屋惣右衛門] (Japanese, c. 1776 – 1862); seal: Hanmoto, Ue [板元 上] (Marks 19-047 | 156d). Combined date seal and kiwame censor seal: Bunkyū 2 (1862) Media: Fan print (uchiwa-e, 団扇絵), 230 x 296 mm.

Title: Modori Kago [戻駕] (Returning palanquin). The dance-drama Modori Kago Iro ni Aikata [戻駕色相肩] premiered in the 11th lunar month of 1788 at the Nakamuraza [中村座], within Sakurada Jisuke I's kaomise [顔見世] (faceshowing) program Tôzumô Hana no Edogata [唐相撲花江戸方]", which celebrated the homecoming to Edo, after two years' absence, of Nakamura Nakazō I, and was intended to show off his particular talents in the role of Jirosaku (in reality Ishikawa Goemon [石川 五右衛門]) [kabuki21]. The symbol on a green book cover is the informal crest of tokiwazu-bushi [常磐津節] shaped like a water chestnut (Eleocharis dulcis) lozenge. Artist signature 国盛画 (Kunimori ga) with red toshidama. According to Samuel L. Leiter’s Kabuki Encyclopedia (1979), p. 243: The palanquin bearers Nanpa no Jirosaku and Azuma no Yōshirō, who are bearing a palanquin with a courtesan's young handmaiden in it, stop to rest at Kyoto's Murasakino, and each dances his regional dance. Then they call the girl, who does a dance showing the visitors to the famous pleasure quarters, Yoshiwara and Shimabara. The two men recognize each other as Ishikawa Goemon and Masashiba Hisayoshi, sworn enemies, and engage in a fight. This number is the only remaining section of an annual "faceshowing” (kaomize) work with a plot based on the medieval chronicle called the Toikōki. The full-length piece was called Kara Sumō Hanaeda no Kata. It is one of the most famous tokiwazu pieces and preserves the old-style Kabuki flavour. Nakamura Nakazō I played Jirosaku and Matsumoto Kōshirō IV was Yoshiro in the first production. The handmaiden was Matsumoto Komesaburō (probably Matsumoto Komasaburō I, an unknown actor [SV]). According to Egenolf Gallery: This work was first performed in 1788 at the Edo Nakamura-za as the season’s first performance and featured Nakamura Nakazō, who returned to Edo after three years in Osaka. It was a dance with tokiwazu chanting and was designed for him to play the lead role. In the piece, two palanquin carriers, one from Osaka, another from Edo, and a passenger – a kamuro, (a young geisha-in-training) exchange stories about the pleasure quarters of Shimabara and Yoshiwara. The text of the chanting book is open next to her, carrying the title “Collection of Practicing” [稽古尽くし], on which the green bundle cover carries the crest of Tokiwazu School, matsu-kawa-bishi, diamond variety of pine bark and the artist’s signature. Tokiwazu is a type of jōruri, narrative music, and accompanies dancing on the kabuki stage. Ref.: Christie's 27 Mar 2006. Publisher: Maruya Jinpachi, seal Marujin (Marks: 12-029 | 294e) Single nanushi censor seal: Mura (Murata Sahei, 1842-46). Provenance: Circular seal of the collector Huguette Bérès to verso. Contributors: Utagawa Kunimori [歌川国盛] (Japanese, fl. c. 1818 – 1943) – artist. Maruya Jinpachi [丸屋甚八] (Japanese, fl. 1770 – 1842) – publisher. Other mentioned: Nakamura Nakazō I [中村仲蔵] (Japanese, 1736 – 1790); other names: Nakayama Kojūrō VI, Nakamura Ichijūrō, Nakayama Manzō – actor. Matsumoto Kōshirō IV [松本幸四郎] (Japanese, 1737 – 1802); other names: Omegawa Kyōjūrō; Ichikawa Komazō II, Ichikawa Somegorô I, Ichikawa Takejūrō ; Segawa Kinji; Segawa Kingo – actor. Sakurada Jisuke I [桜田治助] (Japanese, 1734 – 1806) – dramatist.    

Artist: Utagawa Kunisada [歌川 国貞] a.k.a. Utagawa Toyokuni III [三代歌川豊国] (Japanese, 1786 – 1865). Block cutter: Horikō (Kiyomizu) Ryūzō [彫工 柳三]. Publisher: Ebisuya Shoshichi [恵比寿屋庄七], Kinshōdō (Japanese, fl. c. 1846 – 1883). Actor Morita Kan'ya XI as Saito Tarozaemon Toshiyuki (Morito Kan'ya, Saito Tarozaemon Toshiyuki) Signed Toyokuni ga within the artist's Toshidama cartouche, publisher's seal Sho, Kinshodo, carver's seal Horiko Ryusan, censor's seal aratame with date 1860, 3rd month. Date: 3/1860. Oban tate-e; 36.5 x 25.3 cm. The actor Morita Kan'ya XI (1802-1863) is in the role of Saito Tarozaemon Toshiyuki from the play Oto no Miya Asahi no Yoroi (Oto no Miyo and the Armor of the Rising Sun). The play picks up following the Genko War of 1331-33 in which Emperor Go-Daigo (1288-1339) led a failed uprising against the ruling Hojo clan. Tarozaemon was a Hojo warlord and is credited with much of the victory. After the conflict, his lord Norisada receives a summer festival lantern from the courtesan Sanmi-no-Tsubone, which bears a riddling inscription. He and Tarozaemon deliberate over the courtesan and her message for quite some time until they realize that she is attempting to manipulate Norisada in the hopes of returning the Emperor from exile. Following this revelation, Norisada reinterprets the message to mean kiriko, literally "to cut a child," and determines that Sanmi-no-Tsubone's son must be killed. He instructs Tarozaemon to do the deed. However, unbeknownst to Norisada and in spite of his allegiance to the Hojo clan, Tarozaemon is sympathetic to Sanmi-no-Tsubone and her son. At one time, his own daughter had served in the Imperial Palace and was spared execution only through Sanmi-no-Tsubone's intervention. As repayment of that debt, he kills his own grandson in the other boy's stead and returns to Norisada to report that he had accomplished the mission. This print is from a series of portraits that Kunisada undertook very late in life and has been named Kinshodo-ban yakusha okubi-e (Kinshodo's Large-Head Actor Portraits) in reference to the publisher, Ebisuya Shochochi of Kinshodo. The series depicted great actors from the past and present in their famous roles. Kunisada was guided by images from his own oeuvre: he recorded Kan'ya in this role in the 8th month of 1829. As this was meant to be Kunisada's grandest actor series, it was executed on thick paper with the best possible pigments and the highest level of craftsmanship. In this unusual frontal portrait, Kunisada presents Morita Kan'ya XI as the loyal Tarozaemon with his eyes rolling upward and his jaw set in grim determination to commit the unthinkable act in an ultimate display of samurai honour. Text by Scholten Japanese Art, New York. Ref.: Waseda University Theatre Museum (enpaku.waseda.ac.jp), accession no. 100-5261 (for 1829 portrait of the same); [LIB-1212.2017] Robert Schaap. Kunisada: Imaging, drama and beauty. — Leiden: Hotei Publishing, 2016, p. 165 (№ 16). Andreas Marks. Publishers of Japanese woodblock prints: A compendium. Ebisuya Shoshichi (1846-83) - P6032.

Artist: Utagawa Kunisada [歌川 国貞] a.k.a. Utagawa Toyokuni III [三代歌川豊国] (Japanese, 1786 – 1865). Publisher: Iseya Sōemon [伊勢屋惣右衛門] (Japanese, c. 1776 – 1862). Signed: Kunisada ga within a double toshidama. Date-kiwame seals: Bunsei 11 (1828).

Artist: Utagawa Kunisada [歌川 国貞] a.k.a. Utagawa Toyokuni III [三代歌川豊国] (Japanese, 1786 – 1865). Signed: Toyokuni ga [豊国 画] in a red toshidama cartouche. Publisher: Ibaya Senzaburō [伊場屋仙三郎] (Japanese, c. 1815 – 1869). Block carver: Yokokawa Takejirō [横川竹二郎] (Japanese, fl. 1845 – 1863); seal Hori Take [彫竹]. Double nanushi censor seals: Mera & Murata (1847-50). Title: Cool Breeze on Tenpōzan Hill in Naniwa [浪花天保山の涼] (Naniwa Tenpōzan no ryō). An uncut fan print (uchiwa-e), depicting a gentleman (most probably kabuki actor Nakamura Utaemon IV) holding a pipe with the view of Tenpōzan Hill [天保山] in Naniwa (Osaka) in the background. A distinctive structure on the left is the Sumiyoshi Lantern [住吉高灯篭] (Sumiyoshi takadōrō), which was destroyed by a typhoon in 1950. The character 翫 – moteasobu – on the gentleman’s robe means "take pleasure, play an instrument". Nakamura Utaemon IV [中村歌右衛門] (Japanese, 1796 – 1852); other names: Nakamura Shikan II, Nakamura Tsurusuke I, Nakamura Tōtarō. The character is visually similar to a gentleman drinking tea on a veranda under the shining moon from the series ‘Moon, Sun, Stars’ [月日星] (Getsu hi hoshi), see SVJP-0211-1.2016: The Moon. As noted by Horst Graebner, the gentleman also resembles the character on another Kunisada's actor print, published in 1852 (Waseda University Cultural Resources Database № 114-0232):    

Utagawa Kunisada [歌川 国貞]; a.k.a. Utagawa Toyokuni III [三代歌川豊国] (Japanese, 1786 – 1865). Signed: Toyokuni ga [豊国 画] in a yellow toshidama cartouche. Publisher: Unknown, seal [久] Kyū (Japanese, fl. c. 1851 – 1861); (Marks 07-023 | U176a, possibly Sagamia Kyūzō). Date seal and double nanushi censor seals: Fuku & Muramatsu, Kaei 6, 2^nd month (2/1853). Inscription in a red cartouche: (Purple of Edo // Purple of the Bay Capital) [江都むらさき] (Edo Murasaki), alluding to Murasaki Shikibu [紫 式部] (Japanese, c. 973/8 – c. 1014/31), the author of Genji Monogatari [源氏物語] (The Tale of Genji), a Heian period novel which was the source of a parody Nise Murasaki Inaka Genji [偐紫田舎源氏] (Fake Murasaki’s Rustic Genji) by Ryutei Tanehiko [柳亭種彦] (Japanese, 1783 – 1842). According to Horst Graebner: The actor is most probably Onoe Baikō IV [四代目尾上菊五郞] Onoe Kikugorō IV [四代目 尾上菊五郎] (Japanese, 1808 – 1860); other names: Onoe Baikō IV, Onoe Eizaburō III, Onoe Kikue, Nakamura Tatsuzō, Nakamura Kachō. One of the series of Kunisada's fan prints in this collection:

SVJP-0293.2019

SVJP-0294.2019

SVJP-0295.2019

SVJP-0231.2018

An uncut fan print shows a young woman holding a basket on a landscape background with hills and pines under a rising sun. Haruo Shirane: "Under the luni-solar calendar, the New Year coincided with the beginning of spring, making it the most important observance of the year for the aristocracy. In the Heian period, New Year ceremonies extended from New Year’s Day (Ganjitsu) to the Day of the Rat (Nenohi), which usually fell on the seventh day of the First Month, when courtiers went out to the fields (no), pulled up small pines, and gathered new herbs (wakana) as a prayer for long life. This ritual gradually spread to the provinces and to commoners, eventually resulting in the New Year practice of the gate pine (kadomatsu), in which a pair of small pines was placed at the gate of a house. A popular Heian-period painting topic representing the First Month was “prayers on the Day of the Rat” (Nenohi no asobi), which depicted the auspicious scene of pulling up small pines in a spring field. Both young herbs and gathering young herbs, particularly at Kasuga Field, became major poetic topics for the First Month, appearing in both the spring and celebration (ga) books of the Kokinshū (Collection of Japanese Poems Old and New, ca. 905). By the Kamakura period, the observance of the Day of the Rat had been abandoned at the imperial court, but the custom of gathering and eating young greens continued as the annual ceremony known as the Seven Grasses (Nanakusa). Note: The Heian-period ritual of pulling up the roots of small pines (komatsu ) on the first Day of the Rat derives from the homonyms ne (rat) and ne (root). Pulling up roots was auspicious, since it implied lengthening the year.  The rising sun (hinode) was considered an auspicious sight, particularly at the beginning of the year". [Haruo Shirane, Japan and the Culture of the Four Seasons. Nature, Literature, and the Arts. — Columbia University, NY, 2012]. Title: Gathering of the young herbs on the Day of the Rat [子の日乃若菜] (Nenohi no wakana). Series: Three elegant sources of light [風流三光の内] (fūryū sankō no uchi); meaning the sun, the moon and the stars). Artist: Utagawa Kunisada [歌川 国貞]; a.k.a. Utagawa Toyokuni III [三代歌川豊国] (Japanese, 1786 – 1865). Signed: Toyokuni ga [豊国 画] in a yellow toshidama cartouche. Publisher’s seal: Izuzen (Marks: seal 06-029 | U103b) Date and double nanushi censor seals: Mera and Watanabe, Kaei 6 (1853). A similar theme can be found in Kunisadai's triptych published in about 1844 (HARA SHOBO):

Artist: Utagawa Kunisada [歌川 国貞]; a.k.a. Utagawa Toyokuni III [三代歌川豊国] (Japanese, 1786 – 1865). Signed: Toyokuni ga [豊国 画] in a red toshidama cartouche. Publisher: Ibaya Senzaburō [伊場屋仙三郎] (Japanese, fl. C. 1845 – 1847), seal: San [三] (Marks 11-001 | 127c). Block carver: Matsushima Fusajirō [松嶋房次郎] (Japanese, fl. 1843 – 1850); seal [彫工房] – Hori kō Fusa. Double nanushi censor seal: Kunigasa & Watanabe (1849-50). Actor: Ichikawa Danjūrō VII [市川団十郎] (Japanese, 1791 – 1859); other names: Ichikawa Ebizō V [市川海老蔵], Ichikawa Hakuen II, Ichikawa Shinnosuke I. Play: Yukari no Hana Iro mo Yoshiwara [紫花色吉原], performed at the Kawarazaki Theater (Edo) from the 5th day of the 5th lunar month of Kaei 3 (1850) (see Kabuki Playbill at MFA (Boston) № 11.27996). Sano Jirōzaemon [佐野次郎左衛門] – provincial commoner who killed a famous Yoshiwara courtesan named ManjiyaYatsuhashi [万字屋 八ツ橋] (on the second sheet of the pair):

SVJP-0298.2019: Ichikawa Ebizō V as Sano Jirōzaemon.

SVJP-0297.2019: Iwai Kumesaburō III as Manjiya Yatsuhashi

Another Kunisada's print with the same characters in the same play and same performance can be seen at MFA (Boston) № 11.40190. One more example can be seen at the two upper images in Waseda University Cultural Resources Database, № 006-2707:  

Artist: Utagawa Kunisada [歌川 国貞] a.k.a. Utagawa Toyokuni III [三代歌川豊国] (Japanese, 1786 – 1865). Signed: Kunisada ga [国貞画] in a yellow double-gourd cartouche. Publisher: Ibaya Senzaburo [伊場屋仙三郎] (Japanese, fl. c. 1845 – 1847). Date aratame seal: Bunsei 13 – Tenpō 1 (1830). Actor: Nakamura Utaemon IV [中村歌右衛門] (Japanese, 1796 – 1852); other names: Nakamura Shikan II [二代目中村芝翫], Nakamura Tsurusuke I, Nakamura Tōtarō. Play:  Yoshitsune’s Letter at Koshigoe [義経腰越状] (Yoshitsune Koshigoe-jo). Uncut fan print (uchiwa-e, 団 扇 絵), 229 x 267 mm, depicting kabuki actor Nakamura Shikan [中村芝翫] as Gotobei [五斗兵衛]. Nakamura Utaemon IV held the name of Nakamura Shikan II from the 11th lunar month of 1825 to the 1st lunar month of 1836. He was born as Hirano Kichitarō in Edo in 1796. Another fan print with the same subject in this collection [SVJP-0344.2021]: "...The play Yoshitsune Koshigoe-jo was originally written for the puppet theatre (Bunraku) and staged for the first time in the 7th lunar month of 1754 in Ôsaka at the Toyotakeza. It was a revision of two early plays, Namiki Sōsuke's Nanbantetsu Gotō no Menuki (1735) and Yoshitsune Shin Fukumijō (1744). The title, which suggested that the play focused on Minamoto no Yoshitsune, was in fact dealing with the siege of the Ōsaka Castle, led by Tokugawa Ieyasu to destroy the Toyotomi clan in 1614 and 1615. This play was quickly forbidden because of the 4th act in which Gotobei's wife fired a gun at Yoritomo (this was of course interpreted as an attack on the Shogunate). Yoshitsune Koshigoe-jo was revised in 1770 by Toyotake Ōritsu, who completely rewrote the 4th act for a puppet production at the Kitahorieza in Ōsaka". Yoshitsune Koshigoe-jo was staged for the first time in Edo, at the Ichimuraza on the 9th lunar month of 1790, and is still performed. Gotobei [五斗兵衛] (Gotohei or Gotobē), one of Yoshitsune’s loyal retainers, is forced to choose between his son’s life or his loyalty to Yoshitsune. Nishikidō brothers, who do not want Gotobei to become Yoshitsune's chief strategist, forced him to drink sake and get asleep. To prove Gotobei's military abilities, Izumi no Saburō fires a gun next to Gotobei's ear, and "he jumps up immediately, in full possession of his senses, ready to repulse any enemy". See: [LIB-1193.2013] Samuel L. Leiter. Kabuki Encyclopedia: An English-language adaptation of Kabuki Jiten. — Westport, CT; London: Greenwood Press, 1979; pp. 266-7). Ref:  [LIB-2993.2022] Fig. 24 in Israel Goldman. Japanese prints and paintings / 40th anniversary; Catalogue 27, 2021. Two more Kunisada's fan prints (in Paul Griffith's collection), depicting the same actor Nakamura Shikan II as Toneri Matsuōmaru [舎人松王丸] were published in 1832 by Iseya Ichiemon. The play was Sugawara's Secrets of Calligraphy [菅原伝授手習鑑] (Sugawara Denju Tenarai Kagami). See: [LIB-1212.2017] Robert Schaap. Kunisada: Imaging, drama and beauty / Introduction by Sebastian Izzard, contributions by Paul Griffith and Henk. J. Herwig. — Leiden: Hotei Publishing, ©2016.