Shunkōsai Hokushū (春好斎北洲) (artist ca 1808 – 1832)

Nakamura Utaemon III as Ishikawa Goemon in the play Kinmon Gosan no Kiri (The Temple Gate and the Paulownia Crest) [金門五三桐]

Print

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Date:02/07/1822
Dimensions:10.2 in x 15.4 in (Overall dimensions) Medium:color woodblock print
Inscription:Signed: Shunkōsai Hokushū ga
春好斎北洲画
Publisher: Toshikuraya Shinbei
(Marks 539 - seal 25-553
Carver: Horikō Yamaichi (彫工山市)
Printer: Matsumura (摺工松村)
Links Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Waseda University
Tokyo Metropolitan Library
Hankyu Culture Foundation Description:We believe that this print from the Lyon Collection is one of the best examples of an early deluxe edition, even better than similar ones found in major institutional collections. See the attached jpeg to see the differences between the details of an ordinary edition and this one.

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Schwaab wrote of this print:

"Hokushū designed five compositions for this play, including a striking bust portrait of this role... This print is somewhat of an oddity because it lacks both the actor's name and role but bears the seals of the publisher, the engraver Yamaichi, and the printer Matsumura Kinji, as well as an unidentified seal, possibly of the printseller; the brilliant and expensive pink color also suggest some importance. It is possible that this is the upper sheet of a vertical diptych..."

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In a March 5, 2010 review of a production of this play by Rei Sasaguchi in the Japan Times the writer says:

"...Oinosuke decides to have Hisatsugu killed and — surrounded by Hisayoshi’s soldiers — he writes a letter to this effect to his son, So Soyu, before entrusting it for delivery to a white eagle that comes to life from its image painted on a hanging scroll — and then himself committing hara-kiri in front of Takakage.

The fatal encounter between Ishikawa Goemon and Mashiba Hisayoshi at the main gate of the Nanzenji Temple is featured in Act III. This finds Goemon, gorgeously dressed and coiffed, sitting on the balcony of the gate, holding a pipe. He then opens the letter just delivered by the white eagle and realizes not only that Oinosuke has failed in his plot against Hisayoshi [based on the real-life Hideyoshi], but that he was also his long-lost father. Goemon swears that he will avenge his father’s death. The splendid, two-story red building is then raised slowly from under the stage — with a standing figure of Hisayoshi, dressed as a pilgrim, in front of it. Goemon greets the pilgrim by throwing a knife at him, which Hisayoshi catches."

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Some background material on the history of the Nanzen-ji in Kyoto and its Sanmon gate

The action, shown in this print, takes place at the Sanmon at Nanzen-ji. The gate is described on a discoverkyoto.com website:

"The giant gate you see as you walk into the Nanzen-ji complex is called a sanmon, or “mountain gate” (“mountain” being a traditional way to refer to temples). Built in 1628, the gate is also called “Sangedatsumon” (Gate of the Three Liberations) and is the most important gate within the Japanese Zen Buddhist temple. Standing at 22m high, it was built by Tōdō Takatora to memorialize those who died in the Siege of Osaka Castle in 1615."

It goes on to say that, for a fee, you can still visit and climb the steep, arduous stairs of this gate, but the view at the end is well worth the effort.

The temple's history

"Nanzen-ji began its history as the detached palace of Emperor Kameyama (1249 – 1305), who built the villa in 1264 while still serving as emperor. Encountering a crisis while serving as cloistered emperor with his son ruling publically, he eventually entered the Buddhist priesthood in 1289 after being outmaneuvered by political rivals and stripped of much of his former influence. Becoming a student of the Zen Master Busshin Daimin Kokushi, Emperor Kameyama eventually donated his detached palace and grounds for the construction of a grand Zen temple in 1291.

Despite its status, Nanzen-ji stands not first-ranked in the famous “five mountains” system of Zen temples… but above it. Shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu elevated Nanzen-ji above the system in 1385 in order to place another temple as first ranked without stripping Nanzen-ji of its importance.

Unfortunately, Nanzen-ji was destroyed by fire multiple times during the Muromachi period in 1393, 1447, and 1467. Nanzen-ji was finally rebuilt from 1597 when Ishin Sūden, a powerful advisor to the Tokugawa Shogunate, was appointed as chief abbot and managed to raise the funds. The layout of the temple and number of sub-temples has varied over time, expanding to its fullest during the Edo Period. The majority of its architecture dates from the 17th century onward."

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Illustrated in:

1) Osaka Prints by Dean J. Schwaab, Rizzoli, 1989, #43, p. 84.

2) Ikeda bunko, Kamigata yakusha-e shūsei (Collected Kamigata Actor Prints), vol. 1, #116, 1997.

3) a small black and white reproduction in the Illustrated Catalogues of Tokyo National Museum: Ukiyo-e Prints (3), #3926.

4) a color reproduction in 'Koban nishiki-e: Rare small-format colour prints from Osaka' by John Fiorillo and Peter Ujlaki in Andon 96, May 2014, #18, p. 14.
Related entities Kyōto-Osaka prints (kamigata-e - 上方絵) (genre)
Toshikuraya Shinbei (利倉屋新兵衛) (publisher)
Nakamura Utaemon III (三代目中村歌右衛門) (actor)

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