Sanmon gosan no kiri (楼門五三桐) (kabuki )

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Biography:

The curatorial files at the University of Colorado in Boulder Leah Justin-Jinich wrote of a Toyokuni I print from ca. 1800:

"This print is a commemoration of the first performance of the play Sanmon Gosan no Kiri (The Temple Gate and the Paulownia Crest) in Edo, which took place the 2nd lunar month of 1800 at the Ichimuraza. The play is written by Namiki Gohei I. This Edo performance varied from the original Osaka play, which was first performed two years earlier. In Osaka, the play was known as Kinmon Gosan no Kiri (The Golden Gate and the Paulownia Crest). Initially the play was more popular in the Kamigata (Kyoto/Osaka) region than in Edo. The reason most likely lies in the fact that one of the main characters, Mashiba Hisayoshi, is the kabuki alias for military dictator Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1536/37-1598). Toyotomi Hideyoshi was the political rival of Tokugawa Ieyasu; upon his death, Ieyasu displaced Hideyoshi’s five-year-old son Hideyori and established the Tokugawa bakufu. As such, the political regime in Edo frowned upon the popularity of Hideyoshi in popular culture. Arashi Hinasuke II (1774-1801), an Osaka actor, brought the play to Edo and performed as the main character, the dashing bandit Ichikawa Goemon."