Superb Edo pictures illustrating dances (Odori keiyô Edo-e no sakae): Interior of an imaginary theatre with a performance of Shibaraku 「踊形容江戸絵栄」. Artist: Utagawa Kunisada [歌川 国貞] a.k.a. Utagawa Toyokuni III [三代歌川豊国] (Japanese, 1786 – 1865). Publisher: Nōshūya Yasubei (Japanese, fl. c. 1851 – 1870). Year: 1858 (Ansei 5), 7th month. Size: Vertical ôban triptych; 36.9 x 75.7 cm. Signed: 一陽斎雛獅豊国筆(年玉印) – Ichiyôsai Hinashi Toyokuni ga (on the left sheet only). Censor's seal: Horse 7 [午七 彫師]. Subject: Shibaraku. Ref.: MFA impression: 11.44263a-c; Robert Schaap. Kunisada (2016), p. 101 [LIB-1212.2017]. Ref.: [LIB-1197.2016] Arendie and Henk Herwig. Heroes of the Kabuki stage: an introduction to Kabuki with retellings of famous plays, illustrated by woodblock prints. — Amsterdam: Hotei Publishing, 2004; p. 38. [LIB-3316.2024] Chris Uhlenbeck, Jim Dwinger, Josephine Smit. The Riddles of Ukiyo-e: Women and Men in Japanese Prints. — Brussels: Ludion, 2023, p. 218-9, № 107.

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. 1815 – 1869). Block carver: Yokokawa Takejirō [横川竹二郎] (Japanese, fl. 1845 – 1863), seal: 彫竹 – Hori Take. Date seal and aratame censor seal: May of the Year of Dragon [辰五] (Tatsu-go) (5/1856) (Not in Marks). Uncut fan print (uchiwa-e) depicting Onoe Kikugorō IV as Karukaya Dōshin parting from his son, Ishidomaru (played by Ichimura Uzaemon XIII), and Kawarasaki Gonjūrō I as Yamazakiya Yogoro in the kabuki play Karukaya Dōshin Tsukushi no Iezuto [苅萱桑門筑紫𨏍], written by Namiki Sōsuke [並木宗輔] (Japanese, 1695 – 1751) and performed at Ichimuraza [市村座] in 05/1856. Media: Fan print [団扇絵] (Uchiwa-e); size: 235 x 305 mm. Actors: 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. Onoe Kikugorō V [五代目尾上菊五郎] (Japanese, 1844 – 1903 other names: Onoe Baikō V, Ichimura Kakitsu IV, Ichimura Uzaemon XIII [十三代目市村羽左衛門], Ichimura Kurōemon. Ichikawa Danjūrō IX [市川団十郎] (Japanese, 1838 – 1903); other names: Kawarasaki Sanshō, Kawarasaki Gonnosuke VII, Kawarasaki Gonjūrō I, Kawarasaki Chōjūrō III. Plot: It was a popular belief at one time that jealous women had their hair transformed into writhing serpents and Kato Sayemon Shige-Uji, a daimyo of Tsukushi, a much-married man, suffered from the delusion that his wife was so affected. He fled to the mountains to escape her and led the life of a hermit under the name of Karukaya Doshin [苅萓道心]. One day, on Mount Kōya (高野山, Kōyasan) Karukaya meets a young man who was wandering in the mountains. Being questioned, the youth tells his name, Ishidomaru, and elicits the information that he is seeking his lost father. Karukaya then recognizes the boy as his own son, but firm in the resolve to remain lost to the world, he refrains from disclosing himself, and bids the youth return home. Provenance: Paul F. Walter (American, 1935 – 2017). Ref.:

1. [LIB-2110.2019] Samuel L. Leiter. Historical Dictionary of Japanese Traditional Theatre (Historical Dictionaries of Literature and the Arts). / 2nd edition. – Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, 2014; pp. 379-380.
2. [LIB-2206.2019] Basil Stewart. Subjects portrayed in Japanese colour-prints. — London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co. Ltd., 1922.

 

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 Ichikawa Danjūrō VIII. Ichikawa Danjūrō VIII [市川団十郎] (Japanese, 1823 – 1854); other names: Ichikawa Ebizō VI, Ichikawa Shinnosuke II. One of the series of Kunisada’s fan prints in this collection:

SVJP-0293.2019

SVJP-0294.2019

SVJP-0295.2019

SVJP-0231.2018

Artist: Utagawa Toyokuni I [歌川豊国] (1769–1825). Title: 「しなのやおこん 瀬川菊之丞」「帯屋長右衛門 嵐雛助」 Kabuki play: Katsuragawa Renri no Shigarami [桂川連理柵]. According to Waseda University Cultural Resource Database, the play was performed at Ichimura-za (Edo) on the 2^nd month of Kansei 12 (year 1800) under the title 楼門五山桐 さんもんごさんのきり. Publisher: Nishimuraya Yohachi [西村屋与八] (Japanese, c. 1751 – 1869)., Play by Suga Sensuke [菅専助] (ca. 1728 – 1791) in two acts. First performed at Kita Horie-za in Osaka in October 1776. Based on a real incident occurring sometime in the Kyōhō era (1716-35), this story was first dramatized in 1761. The first Kabuki drama to stem from this play was in 1777 at Osaka's Araki-za. Obiya Chōemon, a married obi merchant (sitting with abacus) in his forties, meets his neighbour's daughter Ohan (standing behind Obiya), who is young enough to be his daughter, at an inn in Ishibe; the two fall in love and pledged their troth. Ohan becomes pregnant. After a series of misfortunes, the lovers rush to Katsuragawa (Katsura River), where they drown themselves.

Segawa Kikunojō III (Japanese, 1751 – 1810); other names: Segawa Senjo, Segawa Rokō III, Segawa Tomisaburō I, Ichiyama Tomisaburō, Ichiyama Shichinosuke. The actor held the name of Segawa Kikunojō III from the 11th lunar month of 1774 to the 7th lunar month of 1801. He surpassed all the actors of his time in both female and male roles, especially in the former, and achieved tremendous public acclaim.

Arashi Hinasuke II [嵐雛助] (Japanese, c. 1774 – 1801); other names: Nakamura Jūzō III, Kanō Hidenosuke I, Arashi Hidenosuke I. The actor held the name of Arashi Hinasuke II from the 1st lunar month of 1794 to the 2nd lunar month of 1801. Hi died in Edo on the 4th day of the 2nd lunar month of 1801. For the same characters illustrated by Utagawa Kuniyoshi see SVJP-0333.2021. Sources:

1. Historical Dictionary of Japanese Traditional Theatre By Samuel L. Leiter. Second edition, 2014.
2. Kabuki Encyclopedia. An English-Langauge Adaptation of Kabuki Jiten. Samuel L. Leiter. Greenwood Press, 1979.
3. http://www.kabuki21.com/
4. Waseda University Cultural Resource Database

Bandō Mitsugorō III as Daihanji Kiyozumi and Arashi Koroku IV as Koganosuke in kabuki play Imoseyama, an example of womanly virtue (Imoseyama onna teikin). 大判事清澄 坂東三津五郎」（三代）・「久我之助 嵐小六」（四代） Artist: Shunkōsai Hokushū [春好斎北洲] (Japanese, fl. 1802 – 1832) Year: 1821 (3^rd month). MFA description: “The Kabuki play Mount Imo and Mount Se: An Exemplary Tale of Womanly Virtue (Imoseyama onna teikin), originally based on a puppet play, is set in ancient Japan when the Soga clan served as regents to the emperor. Two children, Hinadori and Koganosuke, of rival court families, are held hostage under orders from the tyrant Soga no Iruka to ensure their families do not revolt. The children fall in love, but rather than create conflicts for their families they each vow to die by suicide. When the parents learn of their plans, they resolve to cooperate to overthrow Iruka. Here Koganosuke and his father Kiyozumi are shown; a companion sheet on the left would have shown Hinadori and her mother Sadaka.” The play Imoseyama, an example of womanly virtue (Imoseyama onna teikin), was staged at Osaka's Kado Shibai (Kadoza, Kado Gekijô, Kado no Shibai) from 3/1821. According to Herwig, it is the right sheet of a diptych (see below). MFA Accession number: 2011.128 Kabuki actors: Bandō Mitsugorō III [三代目 坂東 三津五郎] (Japanese, 1775 – 1831); other names: Bandō Minosuke I, Morita Kanjirô II, Bandō Mitahachi I, Bandō Minosuke I, Bandō Mitahachi I. Arashi Koroku IV [四代目嵐小六] (Japanese, 1783 – 1826)

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Ref.: [LIB-1197.2016] Arendie and Henk Herwig. Heroes of the kabuki stage: an introduction to kabuki with retellings of famous plays, illustrated by woodblock prints. — Amsterdam: Hotei Publishing, 2004; p. 72:

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Ref: [LIB-2973.2022] Ukiyo-e: A journey through the Floating World / Exhibition catalogue (Japan, Jan-Jul 2014). — The Yomiuri Shimbun, 2014; № 358, p. 226. "Bandō Mitsugorō III as Grand arbiter Kiyosumi and Arashi Koroku IV as Koganosuke":

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: Mikawaya Heiroku [三川屋平六] (Japanese, fl. c. 1848 – 1856); seal: Mihei [三平] (Marks 11-016 | 325a) Block carver: Yokokawa Takejirō [横川竹二郎] (Japanese, fl. 1845 – 1863), seal: 彫竹 – Hori Take. Date seal and aratame censor seal: [辰正] Ansei 3, 1^st month (1856). Inscriptions: Right cartouche: Three good fortunes of the present day [当世三福対] (Tosei sambuku tsui) Center cartouche: Ubuge no Kintaro [産毛の金太郎] (うぶげのきんたろう)  According to Horst Graebner, the play is Tomigaoka koi no Yamabiraki (or Tomioka Koi no Yamabiraki [富岡戀山開], according to kabuki21.com, common title Ninin Shinbē [二人新兵衛]); Kintarō might be Nakamura Fukusuke I [中村福助], the female role might be Mikuni Kojorō [三国小女郎] (or Mikuni no Kojorō). Nakamura Shikan IV [中村芝翫] (Japanese, 1831 –  1899); other names: Nakamura Fukusuke I, Nakamura Masanosuke I, Nakamura Komasaburō, Nakamura Tamatarō I.