Toyohara Kunichika (豊原国周) (artist 1835 – 1900)
Onoe Kikugorō V (尾上菊五郎) as Yamamoto Kansuke (山本勘助) with Ichikawa Sadanji I (市川左団次) as Ushikubo Daizō, #11 from the series 100 Roles of Baikō (梅幸百種之内)
1894
9.375 in x 14 in (Overall dimensions) Japanese woodblock print
Signed: Toyohara Kunichika hitsu
豊原国周筆
Date: Meiji 27 [明治廿七年 - from trimmed left side]
Hagi Uragami Museum of Art
Tokyo Metropolitan Library
Waseda University
Hankyu Culture Foundation
Lyon Collection - another print from this series: Seigen We do not know for sure the source of Kunichika's representation of a bandaged, bloodied Yamamoto Kansuke, but a good guess could be found in the three images that we have added of this general by Kuniyoshi. The only real difference between the images by the two artists is that in the case of Kuniyoshi he has chosen to represent the actual Kansuke in a historical role, while Kunichika's representation is of the actor Onoe Kikugorō V in that portrayal on the kabuki stage. Perhaps the kabuki examples were based on the Kuniyoshi images, unless such performances were already being staged in the 1840s and Kuniyoshi was following their lead. Further digging into this subject should eventually sort all of this out.
Until we know for sure, there is one thing we can say confidently: Kunichika's 1894 representation mimics that of Kansuke in the Kuniyoshi prints of the mid-1840s to the ealy 1850s.
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In Tōkaidō Texts and Tales: Tōkaidō gojūsan tsui by Kuniyoshi, Hiroshige, and Kunisada, University Press of Florida, 2015, on page 114 it translates a passage found on a print by Kuniyoshi related to the Goyu station:
"The Humble Abode of Yamamoto Kansuke
Yamamoto's home was in East Ushikubo Village in Kozakai, Hoi District. His origins lay in this village, where he cultivated fields on his won. At one point he traveled to another province, where he devoted himself to training in military science. Then he lived in hibernation in Ushikubo Village, where he mastered the astronomical charts, studied strategy, and became a great expert on the tactics of war. The great governor-general and chief steward of the imperial household, Takeda Harunobu [actually Takeda Shingen, 1521-73] of Kai Province, journeyed three times to this place to enlist his service. He pushed others away, consulting only with Yamamoto. Each day their relationship grew stronger, until their strategy reached perfection. In the span of just fifteen days, Takeda destroyed nine castles in Shinano Province. People say it was all based on the stratagems of the tactician Yamamoto. One can only regard him as the sleeping dragon of Japan, or compare him to Liu Ji of the Ming dynasty. Such illustrious figures as Takenaka, Anayama, Sanada, and others are known to have been his pupils."
The accompanying texts explains that Yamamoto Kansuke (1501-1561) died of his injuries at the fourth battle of Kawanakajima.
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The publisher is probably Fukuda Kumajirō and the carver is Nisei Hori Ei.
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Illustrated in color in Time present and time past - Images of a forgotten master: Toyohara Kunichika 1835-1900 by Amy Newland Reigle, p. 132, #110.
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There is one other print from this series in the Lyon Collection. (See #1399)
Fukuda Kumajirō (福田熊次郎) (publisher)
actor prints (yakusha-e - 役者絵) (genre)
warrior prints (musha-e - 武者絵) (genre)
Meiji era (明治時代: 1868-1912) (genre)
Onoe Kikugorō V (五代目尾上菊五郎: 8/1868 to 2/1903) (actor)
Ichikawa Sadanji I (初代市川左團次: from 1/1865 to August 7, 1904) (actor)