Utagawa Kunisada (歌川国貞) / Toyokuni III (三代豊国) (artist 1786 – 01/12/1865)

Ichikawa Kuzō II [市川九蔵] as Kongara Dōji (矜伽羅童子) left panel of Fudō Myōō triptych - from the play Genji moyō furisode hinagata (源氏模様娘雛形)

Print

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Date:09/1851
Dimensions:9.75 in x 13.9 in (Overall dimensions) Medium:Japanese woodblock print
Inscription:Signed: Toyokuni ga (豊国画)
Publisher: Wakasaya Yoichi (Marks 573 - seal 27-021)
Censor seals: Fuku and Muramatsu
Special seal: shita-uri
Links Waseda University
Tokyo Metropolitan Library - the whole triptych
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston - the full triptych
Lyon Collection - the full triptych Description:This is from a performance at the Ichimura-za in the 9th month, 1851. This print is the left-hand panel of a triptych.

Kongara dōji is usually shown carrying a club, whereas Seitaka generally holds a long-stemmed lotus flower.

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There are at least 9 other compositions in the Lyon Collection with the 'shita-uri' seal on them.

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The term shita-uri as a special meaning according to Sarah Thompson in Undercurrents in the Floating World: Censorship and Japanese Prints in describing a multi-panel composition on pages 52-53: "A further concession to the reform laws, the print bears a special seal on each sheet reading shitauri, or "selling below," indicating that it could be sold only from the counter and not hung up for display at the front of the store."
Related entities Wakasaya Yoichi (若狹屋与市) (publisher)
actor prints (yakusha-e - 役者絵) (genre)
Ichikawa Kuzō II (二代目市川九蔵: from 11/1835 to 9/1852) (actor)
Fudō Myōō (不動明王) (role)
Kabuki (歌舞伎) theater terms (genre)

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