• From the play <i>Iro moyo chotto karimame</i> (色彩間苅豆) Bandō Hikosaburō IV [坂東彦三郎] as Kinoshita Yoemon [木下川与右衛門] on the left, in the middle are Ichikawa Dannosuke V [市川団之助] as Inaka musume Oriki (田舎娘おりさ) and Nakamura Shibajaku I [中村芝雀] as Yūnen Shōnin (祐念上人) and Onoe Kikujirō II [尾上菊次郎] on the right as the ghost of Kasane [累ゆうこん]
    1850 Kunisada triptych kabuki ghosts
From the play <i>Iro moyo chotto karimame</i> (色彩間苅豆) Bandō Hikosaburō IV [坂東彦三郎] as Kinoshita Yoemon [木下川与右衛門] on the left, in the middle are Ichikawa Dannosuke V [市川団之助] as Inaka musume Oriki (田舎娘おりさ) and Nakamura Shibajaku I [中村芝雀] as Yūnen Shōnin (祐念上人) and Onoe Kikujirō II [尾上菊次郎] on the right as the ghost of Kasane [累ゆうこん]
From the play <i>Iro moyo chotto karimame</i> (色彩間苅豆) Bandō Hikosaburō IV [坂東彦三郎] as Kinoshita Yoemon [木下川与右衛門] on the left, in the middle are Ichikawa Dannosuke V [市川団之助] as Inaka musume Oriki (田舎娘おりさ) and Nakamura Shibajaku I [中村芝雀] as Yūnen Shōnin (祐念上人) and Onoe Kikujirō II [尾上菊次郎] on the right as the ghost of Kasane [累ゆうこん]

Utagawa Kunisada (歌川国貞) / Toyokuni III (三代豊国) (artist 1786 – 01/12/1865)

From the play Iro moyo chotto karimame (色彩間苅豆) Bandō Hikosaburō IV [坂東彦三郎] as Kinoshita Yoemon [木下川与右衛門] on the left, in the middle are Ichikawa Dannosuke V [市川団之助] as Inaka musume Oriki (田舎娘おりさ) and Nakamura Shibajaku I [中村芝雀] as Yūnen Shōnin (祐念上人) and Onoe Kikujirō II [尾上菊次郎] on the right as the ghost of Kasane [累ゆうこん]

Print


06/1849
30 in x 14.5 in (Overall dimensions) Japanese color woodblock print
Signed: Ichiyōsai Toyokuni ga
一陽斎豊国画 - right and left panels
Toyokuni ga (豊国画) in the center
Artist's seal: toshidama
Publisher: Tsutaya Kichizō (Marks 556 - seal 03-004)
Censors' seals: Fuku and Muramatsu
Hankyu Culture Foundation - right panel
Hankyu Culture Foundation - center panel
Hankyu Culture Foundation - left panel
Tokyo Metropolitan Library - the full triptych
National Diet Library - the full triptych When this triptych was first purchased it was represented as being a scene from the play Tenjiku Tokubei Karakoto Banashi. However, according to the Hankyu Culture Foundation it is from Iro moyo chotto karimame. We give more weight to the latter's attribution than we do to that of the original seller.

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Notice the snake coiled around the neck of the kneeling figure in the center panel. It looks like it is about to strike.

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In a special 2006 edition of Andon John Fiorillo and Hendrik Lühl wrote about an 1864 Kasane play: "This was an Osaka-based production of one of the many Kasane mono ('Kasane plays'), puppet and kabuki adaptations of a tale of karma involving an ugly woman named Kasane whose excessive jealousy incited her husband Yoemon to murder her at the Kinu River in Hanyū. Her vengeful spirit tormented her family until, finally, Saint Yuten prayed for her salvation and Kasane's rage was pacified (her name on Enjaku's print includes the appellation jōbutsu, meaning 'becoming a Buddha')"

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There is another copy at Ritsumeikan University.
actor prints (yakusha-e - 役者絵) (genre)
Yūrei-zu (幽霊図 - ghosts demons monsters and spirits) (genre)
Tsutaya Kichizō (蔦屋吉蔵) (publisher)
Onoe Kikujirō II (二代目尾上菊次郎: 11/1835 to 12/1856 and 1858 to June 1875) (actor)
Bandō Hikosaburō IV (四代目坂東彦三郎: 11/1816 to 2/1856) (actor)
Ichikawa Dannosuke V (五代目市川団之助: 1844-64) (actor)