Utagawa Kuniyasu (歌川国安) (artist 1794 – 1832)
Actors visiting a teahouse overlooking Shinobazu Pond (不忍池新地ノ図) - a mitate
ca 1830
31.75" x 15.5" Japanese woodblock print
Signature: Kuniyasu ga 国安画
Publisher: Fushimiya Zenroku (Marks 80 - seal 13-005) jar seal each sheet
Censor seal: kiwame
Lyon Collection - another copy of the center panel Actors accompanied by courtesans enjoy an outing at Shinobazu Pond (in Ueno Park, Tokyo). There are two other prints in the Lyon Collection that show figures in the foreground with a view of the shrine in the middle of Shinobazu Pond behind them in the distance. Once this pond had been created and the shrine placed there the surrounding area became extremely popular. There were numerous teahouses that served as points of assignation. They were populated by geishas, courtesans, actors and ordinary citizens of Edo. Of course it helped that this local was close to the New Yoshiwara and the theater district. This was a place to see and be seen.
Several figures in this triptych by Kuniyasu were prominent kabuki actors who can be identified by the personal family crests they are wearing on their robes. The figure of on the far left of this composition is the onnagata Segawa Kikunojō V. On the cloth pinned to the front of his/her wig is a yuiwata or bundle of silk floss one of Kikunojō's mon. The other one was that of a butterfly with cover that actor's robes. Matsumoto Kōshirō V anchored the composition on the right-hand side of this triptych.
Fushimiya Zenroku (伏見屋善六) (publisher)
Matsumoto Kōshirō V (五代目松本幸四郎: 11/1801 to 5/1838) (actor)
Segawa Kikunojō V (五代目瀬川菊之丞: 11/1815 to 1/7/1832) (actor)
mitate-e (見立て絵) (genre)