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  • Iwai Kumesaburō II (岩井粂三郎) on the left and Segawa Kikunojō V (瀬川菊之丞) on the right, both portraying <i>Yamadori seirei</i> (山鳥せいれい) or female mandarin ducks in the play <i>Saruwaka's gold-crested battle fan</i> (<i>Saruwaka Hisago no gunbai</i> - 猿若瓢軍配)
Iwai Kumesaburō II (岩井粂三郎) on the left and Segawa Kikunojō V (瀬川菊之丞) on the right, both portraying <i>Yamadori seirei</i> (山鳥せいれい) or female mandarin ducks in the play <i>Saruwaka's gold-crested battle fan</i> (<i>Saruwaka Hisago no gunbai</i> - 猿若瓢軍配)
Iwai Kumesaburō II (岩井粂三郎) on the left and Segawa Kikunojō V (瀬川菊之丞) on the right, both portraying <i>Yamadori seirei</i> (山鳥せいれい) or female mandarin ducks in the play <i>Saruwaka's gold-crested battle fan</i> (<i>Saruwaka Hisago no gunbai</i> - 猿若瓢軍配)
Iwai Kumesaburō II (岩井粂三郎) on the left and Segawa Kikunojō V (瀬川菊之丞) on the right, both portraying <i>Yamadori seirei</i> (山鳥せいれい) or female mandarin ducks in the play <i>Saruwaka's gold-crested battle fan</i> (<i>Saruwaka Hisago no gunbai</i> - 猿若瓢軍配)
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Utagawa Toyokuni I (初代歌川豊国) (artist 1769 – 02/24/1825)

Iwai Kumesaburō II (岩井粂三郎) on the left and Segawa Kikunojō V (瀬川菊之丞) on the right, both portraying Yamadori seirei (山鳥せいれい) or female mandarin ducks in the play Saruwaka's gold-crested battle fan (Saruwaka Hisago no gunbai - 猿若瓢軍配)

Print

11/1820
20 in x 14.75 in (Overall dimensions) Japanese woodblock print
Signed: Toyokuni ga (豊国画)
Publisher: Matsumura Tatsuemon
(Marks 311 - seal 03-009)
Censor's seal: kiwame
Hankyu Culture Center - left panel
Hankyu Culture Center - right panel
Waseda University - right panel
Waseda University - left panel
Kabuki21 - another representation from this play by Toyokuni I The source title of the play being portrayed here is a bit of a conundrum. The title does not appear anywhere on this diptych. This is a problem which needs to be solved, but one clue is that this is how it is identified at the Hankyu Culture Foundation for these specific images.

If it is the play noted above, then the Fitzwilliam curatorial information might be helpful. "The Saruwaka in the title of the play is Saruwaka Kanzaburo, who was given official permission by the Shogun to open the Saruwaka Theatre (later renamed Nakamura when the family name changed), the first Kabuki theatre in Edo. The title thereby associates this performance with the Nakamura theatre. The 'gourd-crest' in the title belonged to the great warlord Hideyoshi, an indication that the play was one of the Taikoki mono (plays about the taiko), telling the story of the sixteenth-century warlord Hideyoshi, but with changed names. The identity of such historical characters was disguised to avoid infringing the ban on their portrayal on stage or in prints."

Note that the word 'gunbai' listed in the title can also be anglicized as 'gumbai'.

****

Who was Saruwaka Kanzaburō I (猿若勘三郎) and why was he important?

The Asakusa district in Edo became the main entertainment district. It was where everything that was anything in the daily lives of the local Edoites took place. There was a major temple complex located there. After one of the great fires that ravaged this city in the 17th century the old pleasure quarter, the Yoshiwara, was moved in 1657 to Asakusa and was then called the New Yoshiwara. In time the kabuki theater district was moved an area just to the south, the Saruwaka-cho. It got its name from the founder of the Nakamura acting group, Saruwaka Kanzaburō I. He practiced a form of comic entertainment. Remember that his name literally meant 'young monkey', Saruwaka.
Matsumura Tatsuemon (松村辰右衛門) (publisher)
Segawa Kikunojō V (五代目瀬川菊之丞: 11/1815 to 1/7/1832) (actor)
actor prints (yakusha-e - 役者絵) (genre)
Iwai Kumesaburō II (二代目岩井粂三郎: from 11/1812 to 10/1832) (actor)
Saruwaka Kanzaburō I (猿若勘三郎) (actor)