Shunbaisai Hokuei (春梅斎北英) (artist )
Arashi Rikan II (嵐璃寛) as Chinzei Hachirō Tametomo (鎮西八郎為朝) in Bow-shaped Moon around the Islands (Shimameguri tsuki no yumiharu 島廻月弓張) from the series Tōsei keisho kagami (当世化粧鏡) or 'Mirror of Contemporary Make-up'
09/1833
10 in x 14.75 in (Overall dimensions) Japanese color woodblock print
Signed: Shunkōsai Hokuei ga
春江斎北英画
Artist's seal: Fumoto no Yuki
Publisher: Honya Seishichi (Honsei)
(Marks 123 - seal 25-527)
The National Museum of Asian Art
National Museums Scotland
Lyon Collection - Hokuei diptych from the same play source
Náprstek Museum John Fiorillo wrote in his Hokuei: Master of Osaka Kabuki Prints on page 80: "Imagine a warrior more than 2.5 meters tall whose bow, just as big, required the strength of three ordinary men to bend it. Endowed with a left arm four inches longer than the right, he could draw the bow back far enough to shoot arrows - their heads as large as spear tips - with such ordinary force that they could sink an enemy ship. After chasing away Hōsōgami, the God of Smallpox, his image acquired talismanic powers against the disease, leading to his portrayal in "smallpox prints" (hōsō-e). This towering figure of Chinzei Hachirō Tametomo, who represents the historical figure Minamoto Tametomo (1139-70). He played a role in precipitating the Genpei War between the Genji adn Heike clans. Tametomo fought against the Taira forces led by his brother, Minamoto no Yoshitomo, but was defeated and exiled to the island of Ōshima in Izu, from where he conquered some of the neighboring islands. This brought forth an imperial expeditionary force to hunt him down. With, no escape, Tametomo took his own life by committing ritual suicide."
Fiorillo continues to explain that this print is based on "...an epic tale written by Takizawa Bakin in the thirty-one-volume yomihon published serially from 1807 to 1811 entitled Strange Tales of the Crescent Moon (Chinsetsu yumiharizuki) In this saga, one of Bakin's best works, Tametomo finds refuge in Izu, and then in the Ryukyu Islands, where the real Tametomo had never been. Bakin's fantasy has Tametomo engendering the ancestors of Ashikaga Takauji (1303-58), who established the Ashikaga shogunate..."
"After Tametomo shipwrecks at Okinawa in the Ryukyu archipelago, he defends the princess Neiwanjo against a minister plotting to take over her throne.They fall in love and marry, soon producing a son who becomes the first in a lineage of Okinawan kings."
Later the author notes that "This diptych appears to be Hokuei's earliest single-figure ōkubi-e" and that "The artist produced five prints for this tale..."
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This image commemorates a production of the play at the Naka Theater in 9/1833.
The famous archer, reflected in a mirror frame, leans forward on his longbow. His black war fan with the sun roundel is party seen at the base of the design. The bats at the top of the sheet are symbols of good fortune and prosperity.
Tametomo's outfit shows a mixture of his kiri crest and the actor's tachibana or mandarin orange blossom crest which takes the form of the sasarindō worn by members of Tametomo's branch of the Minamoto clan.
This is one from a series of four roundel bust portraits designed by Hokuei between 1833 and 1835. Each print in the series bears the title 'Contemporary Make-up Mirrors' (200 Years). They were put out in pairs. The first two have one signature - Shunkōsai Hokuei ga - while the last two have a different signature - Shumbaisai Hokuei ga - after the change of gō in 1833.
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William Edmunds said that Chinzei Hachirō Tametomo meant "Tametomo, Eighth son, Conqueror of the West."
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Illustrated:
1) in Catalogue of Japanese Art in the Náprstek Museum published by The International Research Center for Japanese Studies: Nichibunken Japanese Studies Series 4, 1994, p. 145.
2) in a full-page, black and white illustration with accompanying text in Ōsaka Kagami 大阪鏡 by Jan van Doesburg, pp. 82-83, #72. The author wrote: "The set consists of at least four prints, published as two pairs shortly after each other. Two prints have been designed on the occasion of the above mentioned performance. One of the two is illustrated here, the second shows the actor Iwai Shijaku I in the role of Neiwanjo. The other two are mitate: one depicts Arashi Rikan II as Akogi Heiji, the other Iwai Shijaku I as Otake."
"The first two bear the signature Shunkōsai Hokuei ga, the other ones Shumbaisai Hokuei ga. This change of Hokuei's gō took place in late 1833."
3) in color in Kabuki Theatre Prints by Rosina Buckland, National Museums of Scotland, 2013, p. 34. Buckland pairs this print with that of Iwai Shijaku I as Neiwanjo from the play A Tour of the Islands: Stretching the Bow at the Moon (Shima-meguri tsuki no yumiharu (島廻月弓張) at the Naka-za. She wrote on page 35: "These two roles are from the same play, which was an adaptation for the Kabuki state of the best-selling adventure novel, Strange Tales of the Bow Moon (Chinsetsu yumihari-zuki), written by Takizawa Bakin and illustrated by Katsushika Hokusai, published in 1807-11."
4) in a small black and white reproduction in Masterful Illusions, University of Washington Press, 2002, #319, p. 346.
5) in color along with its companion piece in Hokuei: Master of Osaka Kabuki Prints by John Fiorillo, Ludion, 2024, cat. 118, page 81. They are also illustrated in color in smaller reproductions on page 168 with extra information. An enlarged detail of this particular print is shown in a full-page color reproduction on page 34. The author noted on that "This performance... commemorated the thirteenth anniversary of the death of Rikan II's great predecessor, Arashi Rikan I (Arashi Kichisaburō II)."
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The Freer identifies this character as Mashiba Hisatsugu in their online site, but it is listed in Masterful Illusions: Japanese Prints in the Anne van Biema Collection - now part of the Freer-Sackler Galleries - in an illustrated small black and white reproduction on page 346, #319 correctly as Chinzei Hachirō Tametomo.
Honya Seishichi (本屋清七) (publisher)
Arashi Rikan II (二代目嵐璃寛: 9/1828 - 6/1837) (actor)
Kyōto-Osaka prints (kamigata-e - 上方絵) (genre)
actor prints (yakusha-e - 役者絵) (genre)
Tametomo (為朝) (role)
bats (komori - 蝙蝠) (genre)
ōkubi-e (大首絵) (genre)