Ichiryūsai Yoshitoyo (一竜斎芳豊) (artist 1830 – 1866)
Actors from a Soga Brothers play as the Seven Gods of Good Fortune on the Treasure Ship (役者見立宝船) from the play Nami Nori Soga Hana no Kagekiyo (浪乗曽我花景清)
01/1856
10.25 in x 14.25 in (Overall dimensions) color woodblock print
Signed: Yoshitoyo sha (芳豊写)
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Lyon Collection - another print with a takarabune theme
Ritsumeikan University Each of the actors represent one of the characters from a Soga Brothers play which is actually a stand-in for one of the propitious gods. These are the names of the actors as supplied by the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.
1) Nakamura Tomozō (中村友三) as Usami no Saburō (宇佐美三郎) representing Jurōjin (or Fukurokuju)
2) Nakayama Nanshi II (中山南枝), the onnagata, as Ōiso no Tora (大磯のとら) representing Benten
3) Onoe Tamizō II (尾上多見蔵) as Kobayashi no Asahina (小林ノ朝比奈) in the lower right representing Hotei. In a September, 1995 issue of Andon Robert Schaap made a reference to the white paper protrusions coming off the back of Asahina's head. They are chikara-gami (力紙) symbolizing strength and masculinity. It should be noted that chikara-gami is also used but in a different way in sumo ceremonies. Chikara can mean strength, energy or power combined with gami which means paper. Asahina can also be identified by his mitsubikiryō (三引両) crest on his robes. It consists of 3 (mitsu) horizontal parallel bars (hiki) held in a circle (ryō). However, in this print there are only two horizontal bars in a circle.
Schaap also wrote about the origin of Asahina's crane in a circle motif: "Moreover for the stage character Asahina the actor Nakamura Denkurō I (1662-1713) preferred his own tsuru-no-maru (tsuru, crane; maru, circle, round) crest: an impressionistic crane with wings outstretched above its head, forming a circular figure."
4) Ichikawa Ebijūrō IV (市川鰕十郎) as Kudō Sekutsune representing Bishamonten
5) Ichikawa Ebizō V as Soga no Gorō representing Daikoku
6) Ichikawa Ichizō III as Kugami no Saburō representing Fukurokuju (or Jurōjin)
7) Jitsukawa Enzaburō I (実川延三郎) as Soga no Jūrō (曽我ノ十郎) representing Ebisu
Osakaprints.com - see below - gives a different list with 5 of the actors being the same as listed above, but with Mimasu Daigorō IV and Nakamura Tomosa replacing two of them.
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The difference between this print and the example in the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston
This print in the Lyon Collection makes for an interesting comparison with the only other example we could find, the one in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. Their print has none of the metallic inks used on the one shown here. Nor does it have the text seen at the top also in metallic inks, printed vertically, against the sail. Everything about this print tells us that it is from a deluxe edition and may well have served the same purpose as a surimono.
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There were three editions of this print. This one from the Lyon Collection is from the deluxe edition. There are three poems written on the sail, while in the center at the top are the kanji characters for 'great happiness'.
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It was and still is common practice to stage a Soga play at New Year's. Can you imagine a treasure boat being moved forward surrounded by stylized waves and loaded down with this crew of remarkable actors? If this is what was done at the time then it must have been awe inspiring for the audience that got to see such a spectacle.
It is also interesting to note that despite the fact that this print is of a standard ōban size the metallic inks give it the feel of a surimono, another type of elegant print which would appear at New Year's.
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Peter Ujilaki wrote in Daruma 56, Autumn 2007:
Look who's riding the waves
"All of which brings us... a deluxe, over-the-top print by the Osaka artist Gansuitei Yoshitoyo (1830-1866, act. 1854-57). By studying the faces of the seven actors piled aboard the dragon-headed boat in place of the shichifukujin (note the mallet, sea bream and stupa alongside Ichikawa Ebizô V (formerly Danjûrô VII, 1791-1859), Jitsukawa Ensaburô (1813-67), Mimasu Daigorô IV (1798-1859), Ichikawa Ebijûrô IV (1809-58), Onoe Tamizô II (1799-1866), Nakayama Nanshi II (1790-1858) and Nakamura Tomosa), and comparing them with old playbills we can deduce that the print commemorates a 1/1856 Naka Theater performance of Naniwa Soga hana no Kagekiyo, one of a large number of revenge tales built around the story of the Soga Brothers."
"No Soga Brothers play known today features action on shipboard, but it is the nature of Kabuki to add scenes whenever the situation warrants. Just perhaps, with the second arrival of Admiral Perry and his Black Ships (1854) still very near in memory, the producers felt their audience needed to witness a friendlier port arrival and added a mitate (recontextualized) vignette with beloved actors filling in for the deities."
"For their part, the print makers eschewed actor ukiyo-e conventions and created a strikingly unusual composition with three poems printed over the sail in metallic ink, plus two huge "great happiness" kanji. Whether the play and print brought luck to the audience is not clear. What can be confirmed is that four of the seven actors were dead within a couple of years, and Yoshitoyo's design — possibly due to the custom of folding New Year's talismen under one's pillow — has hardly fared better. Despite being issued in at least three states, impressions are about as hard to come by as real takarabune."
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Illustrated in Daruma 56, Autumn 2007.
Kyōto-Osaka prints (kamigata-e - 上方絵) (genre)
actor prints (yakusha-e - 役者絵) (genre)
mitate-e (見立て絵) (genre)
Nakayama Nanshi II (二代目中山南枝: from 11/1831 to 1/1838 and again from 1/1845 to 7/23/1858) (actor)
Asahina Saburō (朝比奈三郎) (role)
Jitsukawa Enzaburō I (初代実川延三郎: from 1/1833 to 1/1865) (actor)
Onoe Tamizō II (二代目尾上多見蔵: 11/1820-1848; 1850-November, 1885) (actor)
Ichikawa Ichizō III (三代目市川市蔵: from the 1830s to 3/1865) (actor)
Ichikawa Ebizō V (五代目市川海老蔵: 11/1797 to 10/1800 and 3/1832 to 3/1859) (actor)
Ichikawa Ebijūrō IV (四代目市川鰕十郎) (actor)
Soga brothers (曾我兄弟) (genre)
Hotei (布袋) (author)