• Arashi Rikan II (嵐璃寛) as Kagekiyo (景清) -  the right-hand panel of a diptych - scene from the play <i>Keisei Hangonkō</i> [けいせい反魂香] - a <i>mitate</i>
Arashi Rikan II (嵐璃寛) as Kagekiyo (景清) -  the right-hand panel of a diptych - scene from the play <i>Keisei Hangonkō</i> [けいせい反魂香] - a <i>mitate</i>
Arashi Rikan II (嵐璃寛) as Kagekiyo (景清) -  the right-hand panel of a diptych - scene from the play <i>Keisei Hangonkō</i> [けいせい反魂香] - a <i>mitate</i>

Utagawa Sadamasu (歌川貞升) (artist )

Arashi Rikan II (嵐璃寛) as Kagekiyo (景清) - the right-hand panel of a diptych - scene from the play Keisei Hangonkō [けいせい反魂香] - a mitate

Print


ca 1832 – 1833
10.25 in x 15 in (Overall dimensions) Signed: Utagawa Sadamasu ga
歌川貞升画
Publisher: Ta (Fujita)
Carver: Kumazō (hori Kumazō)
Printer: Oto (suri Oto)
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Royal Museums of Art and History, Belgium (via Cultural Japan)
Lyon Collection - a Kuniyoshi diptych related to the subject of this play Arashi Rikan II as Kagekiyo in a mitate of one of the Kagekiyo mono (Kagekiyo plays). Demonstrating once again why the best Osaka prints are celebrated for their quality of design and execution, Sadamasu's composition was cut and printed with formidable skill, featuring eye-catching patterning in the robes and brilliant use of metallics, all set against an atmospheric night sky. Kagekiyo holds an amigasa (woven hat made of rush or straw) indicating he is on the move and will use the hat to hide the face. These dramatizations were based on the historical Heike general Taira no Kagekiyo, nicknamed "Akushichibyoe" (bad man of the seventh degree) for killing his uncle. Although a formidable warrior, he was captured after the pivotal naval battle at Dannoura in 1185 when the Genji clan, led by Minamoto no Yoritomo (1147–99), defeated the Heike forces. Exiled to a cave on Hyūga Island, Kagekiyo died of starvation in 1195.

This information is taken directly from Osaka Prints.

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The publisher is said to be Fujita, but there is no such listing in Marks.

This appears to be the right-hand panel of at least a diptych, at most something larger. (See the external link to the example in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston)

This print is referred to as a mitate because with the other panel - missing here - it represents a performance of two actors which never took place and, therefore, was a fantasy piece.

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The top part of the seal below the signature is listed in Ikeda Bunko, Kamigata Yakusha-e Shusei, (Collected Kamigata Actor Prints) volume 2 as "unidentified" #26. It appears on prints by Sadanobu in 1834 and Sadayoshi in 1850.

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The lower part of the actor's robes show his crest or mon, a flowering tachibana. On his upper robe is a beautiful representation of a water wheel.

Illustrated in Utagawa Sadamasu: Distinguished Osaka Print Artist by Jan van Doesburg, p. 62.
Arashi Rikan II (二代目嵐璃寛: 9/1828 - 6/1837) (actor)
actor prints (yakusha-e - 役者絵) (genre)
mitate-e (見立て絵) (genre)
Kyōto-Osaka prints (kamigata-e - 上方絵) (genre)
Taira Kagekiyo (平景清) (role)