Toyohara Kunichika (豊原国周) (artist 1835 – 1900)

Nakamura Shikan IV (中村芝翫) in the role of Asahina (朝比奈) in the play Tsurigitsune Haru no Soga-giku [釣狐春の曽我菊] - this is the center panel of a triptych

Print

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Date:02/1869
Dimensions:9.75 in x 13.5 in (Overall dimensions) Medium:Japanese woodblock print
Inscription:Signed: Kunichika hitsu (国周筆)
Publisher: Kiya Sōjirō
(Marks 252 - seal 26-143)
Carver: Hori Uta (彫卯多)
Combined censor and date seal: aratame - 2/1869
Links Museum of Fine Arts, Boston - the full triptych
Waseda University Description:The figure of Asahina is wearing a kamahige (鎌髭) or scythe beard which is grown in the shape of a scythe. Rather than a proper beard it is made up of sideburns and a moustache. In a September, 1995 issue of Andon Robert Schaap made a reference to the white paper protrusions coming off the back of Asahina's head. They are chikara-gami (力紙) symbolizing strength and masculinity. It should be noted that chikara-gami is also used but in a different way in sumo ceremonies. Chikara can mean strength, energy or power combined with gami which means paper.

Schaap also wrote about the origin of Asahina's crane in a circle motif: "Moreover for the stage character Asahina the actor Nakamura Denkurō I (1662-1713) preferred his own tsuru-no-maru (tsuru, crane; maru, circle, round) crest: an impressionistic crane with wings outstretched above its head, forming a circular figure."

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While, as yet, we do not know the plot line of the play Tsurigitsune Haru no Soga-giku, we do have several hints because of the genres it is related to: the Tsuri Gitsune mono and the Soga mono. Samuel L. Leiter tells us that the Tsuri Gitsune tradition of kyōgen performances are much older than the Soga ones. Tsuri Gitsune mono are 'fox-trapping pieces'. In those a fox transforms himself into a human, the uncle of the hunter who caught the rest of his family. He convinces the hunter that he should not kill other living creatures and should let his prey go. (This theme goes back as far as the Nō theater.)

As a fox transformed into the hunter's uncle, he is tempted to snack on some mice that are being used as bait when they are walking by a trap. However, he fights the temptation and decides to come back later in his true form to gain his rewards. But the hunter is onto him and lays in wait to catch him. The fox returns and gets caught in the trap but he frees himself and the hunter follows in pursuit.

Leiter wrote: "Tsuri Gitsune no Taimen (1770) was introduced by Nakamura Nakazō I, to incorporate material associated with Soga mono." Leiter also pointed out that Kudo no Sukestsune, the Soga villain, sometimes wore a fox mask.

We also know that there were many new iterations of this theme, considering that Soga performances became customary New Year's plays, but always with a different twist each year. This print must be based on one of those numerous productions. Sebastian Izzard had written on page 128, in Utagawa Kunisada: His World Revisited, from 2021: "The medieval story of the vendetta of the Soga brothers against the murderer of their father, Kudo Suketsune, entered Kabuki in the late seventeenth century... Such was the story's popular appeal that over three hundred plays were created, which became a regular part of the New Year shows at Edo theaters."
Related entities Kiya Sōjirō (木屋宗次郎) (publisher)
Nakamura Shikan IV (四代目中村芝翫: 7/1860 to January 1899) (actor)
actor prints (yakusha-e - 役者絵) (genre)
Meiji era (明治時代: 1868-1912) (genre)
Asahina Saburō (朝比奈三郎) (role)
Soga brothers (曾我兄弟) (genre)

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