Utagawa Kuniyoshi (歌川国芳) (artist 11/15/1797 – 03/05/1861)
Left sheet of a diptych: Nakamura Tsuruzō I as Ryōshi Ganzō (猟師鴈蔵) and Seki Sanjūrō III as Yokoyama Daizō (横山大蔵); right sheet: Nakamura Utaemon IV as Otaka Tonomo (大高主殿) in the play 'A true account of Takagi Oriemon' (高木織右武実録)
08/1848
9.7 in x 14.125 in (Overall dimensions) color woodblock print
Signed: Ichiyūsai Kuniyoshi ga
一勇斎国芳画
Artist's seal: kiri (in red)
Publisher: Sanoya Kihei (Marks 446 - seal 25-210)
Censor seals: Muramatsu and Yoshimura
Kuniyoshi Project
Waseda University - right panel
Waseda University - left panel
Östasiatiska Museet, Stockholm - right-hand panel
Östasiatiska Museet, Stockholm - left-hand panel
Minneapolis Institute of Art This scene from the play Takagi Oriemon budōjitsuroku (高木織右武実録) was performed at the Nakamura theater in the eighth month, 1848.
There is a single-sheet print entitled The actor Nakamura Utaemon IV as the ghost of Ōtaka Shuden from the same date and play. "The play was performed at the theatre, Nakamuraza, in the eighth month of 1848 and in it Ōtaka Shuden is known as Nōshi ('nō master') Muchiku Būdaiyū." Beyond that we know little to nothing about this play - so far.
Quoted from: Heroes and Ghosts: Japanese Prints by Kuniyoshi 1797-1861 by Robert Schaap, Hotei Publishing, 1998, p.159.
Note what appears to be a struggle for the scroll painting of Daruma. There is another print in the Lyon Collection which is meant to to be a reproduction of this exact scroll and was certainly used as a dramatic prop in this play.
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In reference to the title of this play "It seems likely that [Takagi Toranosuke] is a fictional character, possibly inspired by the historical figures Takagi Oriemon Shigetoshi, who founded the Hontai Hōshin Ryū school of martial arts in the seventeenth century, and hsi successor as head of the school, Takagi Umanosuke Shigesada."
Quoted from: Utagawa Kuniyoshi: The Sixty-nine Stations of the Kisokaidō by Sarah E. Thompson, p. 78.
actor prints (yakusha-e - 役者絵) (genre)
Sanoya Kihei (佐野屋喜兵衛) (publisher)
Nakamura Utaemon IV (四代目中村歌右衛門: 1/1836-2/1852) (actor)
Seki Sanjūrō III (三代目関三十郎: 4/1840 to 12/1870) (actor)
Yūrei-zu (幽霊図 - ghosts demons monsters and spirits) (genre)
Nakamura Tsuruzō I (初代中村鶴蔵: 11/1818 to 8/1865) (actor)
Daruma or Bodhidharma (達磨) (role)