 SVJP-0341.2021 |
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Kabuki actors Onoe Kikugorō III and Iwai Kumesaburo II. Year: c. 1832; Publisher: No seal; Signed: Kōchōrō Kunisada ga From Kunisada Project. |
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Kabuki actors Bandō Minosuke II and Iwai Shijaku I. Year: c. 1832; Publisher: No seal; Signed: Kōchōrō Kunisada ga From Kunisada Project. |
Actors:
Bandō Takesaburō I (初代坂東竹三郎) (Japanese, 1832 – 1877); other names: Shinshi, Shinsui V, Bandō Hikosaburō V [五代目坂東彦三郎], Bandō Tsurunosuke I.
Ichikawa Kodanji IV [市川小團次] (Japanese, 1812 – 1866); other names: Ichikawa Yonejūrō I, Ichikawa Yonezō III, Ichikawa Eizō.
Similar images were then used for the series Seven flourishing plants on lanterns for summer evenings [涼調珍盛の七草] (Suzumi chōchin sakari no nanakusa) published by Ibaya Senzaburō in 1852 (Kaei 5), 6th month.
Bandō Takesaburō I (carved by Yokokawa Takejirō): https://collections.mfa.org/objects/219360
Actor Ichikawa Kodanji IV (carved by Nakamura Tōkichi): https://collections.mfa.org/objects/477146.
A young woman adjusting her hairpin on a balcony during the Tanabata festival, as inscribed on the white folding fan: [七夕] (Tanabata).
Inscription on the blue book (print title): Early autumn [はつ秋や] (hatsu akiya), inscription on the purple book (series title): Short love songs, second volume [端唄の意 二編] (Hauta no kokoro nihen). According to Marks (2010), Hauta no kokoro nihen series of fan prints was published by Ibaya in 1858 (p. 267|P6871).
The series refers to love songs of a certain type popular in late Edo. They were performed with the accompaniment of a shamisen, “Seven herbs of autumn, the song of the insects is not heard; the bodies of lightning bugs are burnt, and the precious writings of love are getting thinner like the song of the insects as I am waiting for you. So, on an early autumn evening, I spot the glitter of a lightning bug that lingered among the autumn grasses, and while listening to the pine cricket, I am singing with my heart troubled by love". [Tokyo National Museum; translation provided by Elena Varshavsky].Tanabata [たなばた] or [七夕] – meaning "Evening of the seventh", also known as the Star Festival [星祭] (Hoshi matsuri) – is a Japanese festival originating from the Chinese Qixi Festival. One popular Tanabata custom is to write one's wishes on a piece of paper and hang that piece of paper on a specially erected bamboo tree, in the hope that the wishes become true.
 SVJP-0342.2021 |
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Kabuki actors Onoe Kikugorō III and Iwai Kumesaburo II. Year: c. 1832; Publisher: No seal; Signed: Kōchōrō Kunisada ga From Kunisada Project. |
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Kabuki actors Bandō Minosuke II and Iwai Shijaku I. Year: c. 1832; Publisher: No seal; Signed: Kōchōrō Kunisada ga From Kunisada Project. |
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):
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SVJP-0400.2023 — Saiko:
Note by Elena Varshavsky:
Tamagiku [玉菜] (Japanese, 1702 – 1726) – Precious Chrysanthemum (translated also as Jade Chrysanthemum; one can say also Gem Chrysanthemum). She was a courtesan famous for her beauty, kind heart, and countless artistic accomplishments. She died young and was deeply grieved by the establishment of Nakamanji-ya (中万字屋) for which she worked, and beyond. Her memory was celebrated during the Bon festival of the commemoration of the dead, and lanterns were hung at the gallery of that establishment and other neighbouring ones to commemorate her and appease her soul. These lanterns are seen behind her. Kabuki plays were continuously dedicated to her, she figured in Edo period literature and was often portrayed on ukiyo-e prints. In many cases, she was shown with the lanterns associated with her. Those lanterns were called “Tamagiku Lanterns”.
Other depictions of Tamagiku:
Tamagiku (Ancient and modern women's biography) by Kunisada, 1859.
Courtesan Tamagiku by Kunichika.
Tamagiku of the Nakamanjiya, Inaki Shinnojō, and Nakamanjiya Yahei (looking through the window) by Kunisada.
Nakamanji-Ya Tamagiku by Kunisada
Nakamanji-Ya Tamagiku by Kunisada, 1857
 SVJP-0335.2021 |
 SVJP-0336.2021 |
"...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.
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The design on our fan print looks very much like the one of Toyokuni I at MFA (Houston): OBJECT NUMBER 2006.378. "Seki Sanjuro as Obiya Choemon and Ichikawa Denzo as Ohan of the Shinonoya from the Kabuki Drama Katsuragawa renri no shigarami (Love Suicide of Ohan and Choemon at the Katsura River)", according to MFA-H published by someone Tsuruya in c. 1810 (though the publisher's seal is Suzuki Ihei [鈴木伊兵衛] (seal name Suzui [鈴伊]), Marks 01-028 | 502; the censor's seal is gyōji, date 1811-14).
Interestingly enough, the description provided by Kuniyoshi Project is this "Actors: Onoe Kikugorô III as Shinanoya Ohan (おはん, female) and Ichikawa Ebizô V as Obiya Choemon (長右衛門, male). Play: Go chumon shusu no Obiya (御注文繻子帯屋). Date: 3rd month of 1840. Theater: Kawarasaki. Publisher: Iba-ya Sensaburô".
The play Go chumon shusu no Obiya was indeed staged at Kawarazaki theatre in 1840 (Tenpō 11), 3rd month; Ichikawa Ebizō V was indeed playing Obiya Choemon but Onoe Kikugorō III had the role of Kataoka Kōzaemon, not of Ohan, as can be seen on Kunisada's diptych at MFA (Boston): ACCESSION NUMBER 11.40671a-b.
Actors Ichikawa Ebizô V as Obiya Chôemon (R) and Onoe Kikugorô III as Kataoka Kôzaemon (L)
