Shunbaisai Hokuei (春梅斎北英) (artist )

Nakamura Utaemon III (中村歌右衛門) as Komafune Hachirō (駒夫根八郎) on the far right, next is Nakamura Tomijūrō II (中村富十郎) as Komafune's wife Okane (駒舟女房おかね), Arashi Rikan II (嵐璃寛) as Awashima Kainosuke (粟島甲斐之助) in the center, Nakamura Shikan II (中村芝翫) as Amako Komawakamaru (尼子駒若丸) and Iwai Shijaku I (岩井紫若) as the packhorse driver Osaka, actually Yukari no Mae (馬方おさく実はゆかりノ前) on the far left, in Keisei Nazuna No Sekku (aka Keisei Himehajime [けいせい飛馬始]) - a mitate

Print

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Date:01/1834
Dimensions:46.25 in x 14.25 in (Overall dimensions) Medium:Japanese woodblock print
Inscription:Signed: Shunbaisai Hokuei ga
春梅斎北英画
Publisher: Wataya Kihei
Right panel: (Marks 579 - seal closest to 12-053)
Center and 4th panels: (Seal 12-008)
Left panel: (Seal 12-007)
Links Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Hankyu Culture Foundation - far right panel
Hankyu Culture Foundation - 2nd from right
Hankyu Culture Foundation - center panel
Hankyu Culture Foundation - 2nd from left
Hankyu Culture Foundation - far left panel
Philadelphia Museum of Art
Victoria and Albert Museum - the middle panel only: numbered 3 (三) in a circle next to the publisher's seal
Victoria and Albert Museum - the far right panel only - from a different edition Description:Roger Keyes wrote: "The story of the Christian revolt led by Amakusa Shirō on the island of Amakusa in the late sixteenth century was often staged... In the present version, the scene of the revolt is transferred from Kyūshū to Wakayama. The Christian rebel, Amako Komawakamaru, is using a cannon to destroy a castle commanded by Awashimi Kainosuke. In earlier versions, Amako sets a wild horse loose in the courtyard of the castle to create confusion, and that scene may have been transferred here. On the verge of defeat, Awashima miraculously regains power and is able to beat off Amako's attack. The present scene is arranged like a stage-wide kabuki tableau, but may very well be a composite scene.

The play on which the print is based was not performed with this cast in 1834. It had been investigated by the government when it was performed in 1824 for its over-close similarity to a peasants' revolt in Kii Province the previous summer. In 1834, Japan was suffering a nationwide famine, discontent was widespread. Hokuei and his publisher may have been appealing to and fanning this unrest, which erupted in riots a few years later."

Quoted from: The Theatrical World of Osaka Prints by Roger Keyes, Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1973, no. 48, page 136.

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Not all of the sheets are clearly number, except for 3 (三) and 4 (四).

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Illustrated:

1) in black and white in The Theatrical World of Osaka Prints by Roger Keyes, Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1973, no. 48, page 137.

2) in color Ikeda Bunko, Kamigata yakusha-e shūsei (Collected Kamigata Actor Prints), vol. 2, Osaka, 1998, pages 104-105, No. 322.

3) in color in a small reproduction in Hokuei: Master of Osaka Kabuki Prints by John Fiorillo, Ludion, 2024, cat. 149, page 177. There is another small reproduction in color on page 18, fig. 9. Fiorillo says that this mitate has "...roles [that] suggest either Flying Horse, A Courtesan Play (Keisei hime hajime けいせい飛馬始) or Courtesan at the Auspicious Festival of Spring Flowers (Keisei nazuna no sekku けいせい薺佳節)."
Related entities Wataya Kihei (綿屋喜兵衛) (publisher)
mitate-e (見立て絵) (genre)
actor prints (yakusha-e - 役者絵) (genre)
Kyōto-Osaka prints (kamigata-e - 上方絵) (genre)
Arashi Rikan II (二代目嵐璃寛: 9/1828 - 6/1837) (actor)
Nakamura Shikan II (二代目中村芝翫: 11/1825 - 12/1835) (actor)
Iwai Shijaku I (初代岩井紫若: 11/1822-2/1844) (actor)
Nakamura Tomijūrō II (二代目中村富十郎: 1/1833 to 2/1855) (actor)
Nakamura Utaemon III (三代目中村歌右衛門) (actor)

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