Shunbaisai Hokuei (春梅斎北英) (artist )
Arashi Rikan II (嵐璃寛) as Chinzei Hachirō Tametomo (鎮西八郎為朝) 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 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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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.
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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)