Utagawa Kunihiro (歌川国広) (artist )

Ichikawa Ebijūrō I (市川鰕十郎) as Ukisu no Iwamatsu (うきすの岩松) on the right, Arashi Kitsusaburō II (嵐吉三郎) as the farmer Jūsaku (百姓十作) in the center, Sawamura Kunitarō II (沢村國太郎) as Jūsaku's wife [nyōbō] Okinu (十作女房お絹) on the left in Keisei kakehashi monogatari (けいせい棧物語)

Print

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Date:05/1827
Dimensions:31 in x 15.5 in (Overall dimensions) Medium:Japanese woodblock print
Inscription:Signed: Kunihiro ga (国広画)
Publisher: Tenki (Tenmaya Kihei)
Links Lyon Collection - Kitsusaburō II in the role of Tsukimoto Hajimenosuke by Hidekuni
Lyon Collection - an Ashiyuki diptych with a figure as the farmer Jūsaku Description:As pointed out below Arashi Kitsusaburō II plays two different roles in this play. Here he is Jūsaku the farmer, but elsewhere he is Tsukimoto Hajimenosuke. The image shown below the triptych is of him in that role from an Ashiyuki print at the British Museum. The Lyon Collection also owns two copies of a print by Hidekuni of that character. See the link above.

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This is from a performance at the Naka Theater in Osaka in 5/1827.

"The plot of the kabuki play Keisei kakehashi monogatari (Story of a courtesan and a bridge over the gorge: けいせい棧物語) appears not to have survived. "[The choice of bold type is ours.]

"Kitsusaburō II performed two roles in this production: as shown here, hyakusei [farmer] Jūsaku (百姓十作), and as Tsukimoto Hajimenosuke (月本始之助)."

"It is fascinating to note how different artists handled the same scene from the same production. For example, Ashiyuki placed the same protagonists (including the child) before the setting sun, but in place of the rice fields shown by Kunihiro, Ashiyuki's triptych depicts a bay behind the actors and Mount Fuji in the far distance (on the middle sheet)... Moreover, Kunihiro does not identify the child actor and role, but they are given on the Ashiyuki triptych as Arashi Kitsuzô performing as Jukichi."

"The rays of the setting sun radiate across two of the sheets, animating the composition. The colors in this impression are well preserved, especially on the left sheet, where the red has a pink tonality indicative of fresh beni (紅 red pigment extracted from saffron, carthamus tinctorious)."

Provenance

"The left sheet (larger than the others) is from the late print dealer Paul Schweitzer (1993), while the right and center sheets are from the famed Okada Isajiro (岡田伊三次郎) Collection (a celebrated private Japanese collection not seen in public for more than 70 years that was featured in Kuroda Genji's 1929 Kamigata-e ichiran, Review of Kamigata Pictures, and thought to have been lost until its miraculous reappearance and gradual dispersal starting in the year 2000). Completing polyptychs in such a manner is quite familiar to dealers and dedicated collectors, and indicative of the rarity of this triptych and the virtue of patience in collecting."

This information was taken directly from Osakaprints.com.
Related entities Tenmaya Kihei (天満屋喜兵衛) (publisher)
Ichikawa Ebijūrō I (初代市川鰕十郎 9/1815 to 7/1827) (actor)
Arashi Kitsusaburō II 二代目嵐橘三郎 (9/1822 to 8/1828) (actor)
Sawamura Kunitarō II (二代目澤村國太郎: 11/1819-1836) (actor)
Kyōto-Osaka prints (kamigata-e - 上方絵) (genre)

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