Utagawa Kunihisa (歌川国久) (artist )
Onoe Matsusuke I (尾上松助) as Fujikawa Mizuemon (藤川水右衛門) confronted by the snake
ca 1805
9.75 in x 14.5 in (Overall dimensions) Japanese color woodblock print
Signed: Toyokuni monjin Kunihisa ga
'Kunihisa, pupil of Toyokuni, drew this picture'
豊国門人国久画
Publisher: Tsuruya Kinsuke (Marks 554 - seal 06-002)
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston - 1794 print of same character in the same role and pose, but by Toyokuni I
British Museum - 1812 Toyokuni I diptych of Fujikawa Mizuemon confronted by a snake from a different play This print may represent a scene from a lost Soga play. While this image may stand alone there is a reference to a triptych - which we have been unable to locate - in which this event is the central panel, as noted in the Museum of Fine Arts Bulletin from 1962. It notes that Fujikawa Mizuemon is confronted by a striking snake.
Elsewhere, whenever Mizuemon is mentioned he is referred to as a villain.
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There is a print by Toyokuni I of a different actor, but in the same role and in almost exactly the same pose for both the actor and even the snake. Another difference is the costume, but other than that both Kunihisa and Toyokuni I, his teacher, used almost exactly the same layout. Another difference is that the Toyokuni I has a plain background with no text.
This figure appeared in the play Hana Ayame Bunroku Soga (花菖蒲文禄曽我 - 'Blooming Iris, Soga of the Bunroku Era') which was performed at the Miyako Theater in the fifth month of 1794. Another artist who portrayed this same character based on the same performance, but in the form of a large head and upper torso, was Sharaku. His print may represent the same scene as the one seen here - sans the snake - if you look carefully at the dramatic placement of his arms with his hands hidden by his sleeves. Three artists creating two variations in their presentations.
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There is an unidentified collector's seal bottom right.
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In Tōkaidō Texts and Tales: Tōkaidō gojūsan tsui by Kuniyoshi, Hiroshige, and Kunisada, edited by Andreas Marks, University Press of Florida, 2015, on page 119 there is a description of a Kuniyoshi print which gives a succinct summary of the vendetta between the Ishii family and Fujikawa Mizuemon.
"The historical incident of revenge as described in the inscription occurred in 1701 in Kameyama in the province of Ise. Two brothers plotted over many years to avenge the deaths of their father and elder brother. Their father, Ishii Uemon, a fencing master in the Komoro clan of Shinshū Province, had upbraided a pupil for self-indulgent behavior, and was attacked and murdered in retaliation. The eldest son, Genzō, sough revenge but was instead himself murdered in a counterattack. For twenty-eight years the two younger brothers, Gennosuke and Hanjirō, plotted their revenge, and they finally achieved their objective and struck down their enemy.
Historical documents list the name of the actual enemy as Akabori Mizunosuke, not Fujikawa Mizuemon. Tsuruya Nanboku IV wrote several plays on this theme, including The Miraculous Kameyama Pike (Reigen Kameyama boko), also known as The Vendetta at Kameyama (Kameyama no adauchi). Mizuemon and Hyōsuke fight int he rain, but because Hyōsuke has been poisoned, he has no chance."
Tsuruya Kinsuke (鶴屋金助) (publisher)
actor prints (yakusha-e - 役者絵) (genre)
Onoe Matsusuke I (初代尾上松助: 11/1755 to 10/1809) (actor)
Soga brothers (曾我兄弟) (genre)