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

Ōtani Tomoemon V [大谷友右衛門] as the ghost of Taira no Tomomori in the play Ichi no Mori Kujira no Ōyose (一守九字成大漁)

Print

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Date:07/1867
Dimensions:9.375 in x 28 in (Overall dimensions) Inscription:Signed: Kunichika hitsu (国周筆)
Artist's seal in red: toshidama
Publisher: Daikokuya Kinnosuke
Marks 033 - seal 26-101
Date/censor seal: 7/1867
Links Waseda University (top sheet)
Waseda University (bottom sheet) Description:This vertical diptych commemorates a performance given at the Morita Theater in 7/1867.

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This next passage is translated from The Vengeful Ghosts of the Heike Clan: "One of the ghostly warriors leapt from the ocean onto the ship. At a glance, Yoshitsune knew who it was—Taira no Tomomori, dread general of the Heike. His eyes blazed red with wrath as he swung his massive naginata long-spear and maneuvered to engage Yoshitsune. Remarkably, Yoshitsune betrayed not the slightest glimmer of fear. He calmly drew his own sword and prepared to face off with this dead warrior."

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In the Nō play Funa Benkei as soon as Yoshitsune sets sail a storm hits and in the waves are the ghosts of the Heike warriors. Their leader is Taira no Tomomori and he is determined to destroy Yoshitsune.

Tomimori

Behold me!
I am the ghost of Taira-no-Tomomori,
Scion of the Emperor Kammu,
In the ninth generation.
Hail, Yoshitsune!
I have come
Guided by your oarsmen's voices,

Chorus

As your boat cleaves
The waters of Daimotsu Bay.
As your boat cleaves
The waters of Daimotsu Bay.

Tomomori

I, Tomomori,
Will drag down Yoshitsune
Under the waves beneath which I sank.
Grasping his halbert,
He whirls it round him like a flail,
Churning up the waves
And belching forth noisome vapours.
Dizzy-eyed and mind distraught,
None knows where they are.

"As Tomomori attempts to pull Yoshitsune down into the sea, he is driven off by Benkei's prayers." Quoted from: Yoshitsune: A Fifteenth-century Japanese Chronicle by Helen Craig McCullough, Stanford University Press, 1966, pp. 55-56.

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Lafcadio Hearn in his Romance of the Milky Way and other studies and stories wrote in his 1910 edition, described Tomomori as a funa yūrei (船幽霊) or 'ship ghost'. On pages 104-105 he wrote: "The spirits of those warriors of the Héïké clan who perished in the great sea-fight at Dan-no-ura, in the year 1185, are famous among Funa-Yūréï. Taïra no Tomomori, one of the chiefs of the clan, is celebrated in this weird rôle: old pictures represent him, followed by the ghosts of his warriors, running over the waves to attack passing ships. Once he menaced a vessel in which Benkéï, the celebrated retainer of Yoshitsuné, was voyaging; and Benkéï was able to save the ship only by means of his Buddhist rosary, which frightened the spectres away...."

Hearn tells us that Tomomori and his hosts of ghosts would steal the anchors of ships in the region of Shimonoseki. Later Hearn quotes a poem about Tomomori on pages 107-108.
Sono sugata
Ikare wo ōté,
Tsuki-matoü
Funé no hisaké ya
Tomomori no réï

(That Shape, carrying the anchor on its back,
and following after the ship - now at the bow and
now at the stern - ah, the ghost of Tomomori.

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Illustrated in color in Japanese Woodblock Prints: Artists, Publishers and Masterworks 1680-1900 by Andreas Marks, Tuttle Publishing, Tokyo, 2010, p. 161.

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Kabuki21 wrote of this print: "Ôtani Tomoemon V playing the role of the warrior Taira no Tomomori in the "Daimotsu no Ura" scene of the drama "Ichi no Mori Kujira no Ôyose" (similar to the classic "Yoshitsune Senbon Zakura"), which was staged in the 7th lunar month of 1867 at the Moritaza."
Related entities Daikokuya Kinnosuke (大黒屋金之助) (publisher)
warrior prints (musha-e - 武者絵) (genre)
Yūrei-zu (幽霊図 - ghosts demons monsters and spirits) (genre)
Ōtani Tomoemon V (五代目大谷友右衛門: from 1865 to 8/1869 and from 4/1871 until February 1, 1873) (actor)
actor prints (yakusha-e - 役者絵) (genre)
Taira no Tomomori (平知盛: 1151 to 4/25/1185) (role)

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