Utagawa Kuniyoshi (歌川国芳) (artist 11/15/1797 – 03/05/1861)

Ichikawa Ebizō V (市川海老蔵) as Higuchi Jirō (桶口次郎) in the play Hiragana seisuki [ひらかな盛衰記]

Print

---

Date:04/1832
Dimensions:9.47 in x 14.75 in (Overall dimensions) Medium:Japanese color woodblock print
Inscription:Signed: Ichiyūsai Kuniyoshi ga
一勇斎国芳画
Publisher: Yamaguchiya Tōbei
(Marks 591 - seal 15-005)
Censor's seal: kiwame
Links British Museum
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston - aizuri-e with different actor and costume Description:This print commemorates a performance at the Ichimura Theater in the fourth month of 1832.

"The story [of Higuchi Jirō], loosely based on historical events, its part of the play called Hiragana seisuki (A Beginner's Version of the Rise and Fall of the Heike and Genji Clans). It was performed for the first time at Osaka's Takemoto puppet theatre in 1739.

General Minamoto Kiso no Yoshinaka (1154-84), in revolt against the Imperial House, was defeated and killed by the troops of General Minamoto no Yoshitsune (1159-89) during the battle of Uji River in 1180. In the play, Yoshinaka's wife, Yamabuki, with her son Komawaka and her maid O-Fude, take refuge at an inn near Lake Biwa. The neighboring room is occupied by the boatman Gonshirō, his daughter O-Yoshi and her little son Senmatsu. When the pursuing Minamoto troops become aware of Yamabuki's hiding place they rush into the inn at night. In the resulting confusion, Yamabuki flees into a nearby bamboo grove with Senmatsu, whom she mistakes in the darkness for her own child. They are discovered by the soldiers who kill the boy, assuming it is Yoshinaka's son Komawaka. In the meantime, Gonshirō and O-Yoshi escape with Komawaka, believing him to be Senmatsu. When they discover the boy is not theirs, Gonshirō decides to raise the boy as his own grandson until Senmatsu returns. One day the maid O-Fude, searching for Komawaka, arrives at Gonshirō's house, claiming the child. On hearing that Senmatsu is dead, Gonshirō and O-Fude grieve and Gonshirō in his anger determines to kill Komawaka as well. He is prevented from doing so by his son-in-law, the boatman Matsuemon, who reveals that he is in reality Higuchi Jirō Kanemitsu, a loyal high-ranking retainer of Yoshinaka. Other boatmen then arrive to be instructed by Matsuemon in the 'secret art of rowing backwards'. The sailors, however, are Minamoto warriors in disguise and have come to capture Kanemitsu. A fight ensues in a boat where Kanemitsu single-handedly beats back his attackers and tosses all of them overboard."

Quoted from: The Hundred Poets Compared: A Print Series by Kuniyoshi, Hiroshige, and Kunisada by Henk Herwig and Joshua Mostow, p. 102.

****

John Fiorillo in his article on 'Ireki' in Andon 81 wrote on page 66: "Matsuemon was the warrior Higuchi no Jirō Kanemitsu in disguise, a personal bodyguard oÍ the Heike general Kiso Yoshinaka (killed in 1184 by Minamoto no Yoshitsune), who was skilled in the secret art of sakaro [逆櫓], backward-rowing used to position ships in battle. The Kajiwara, allies of Yoshitsune, offered the boatman command of Yoshitsune's ship in exchange for teaching them sakaro, but it was a ruse to take Matsuemon prisoner. The cagey boatman knew this and never revealed his secret. In Kunisada's print [a different Kuniyoshi print here with several specific differences here], Matsuemon is perched in the tree Matsu no sakaro ('Sakaro pine' [逆櫓の松]), observing the Kajiwara marching toward him (the tops of their battle standards can be seen at the middle right). Matsuemon would ultimately surrender to overwhelming forces."

****

There is another copy of this print in aizuri in the Achenbach Foundation.
Related entities Yamaguchiya Tōbei (山口屋藤兵衛) (publisher)
Ichikawa Ebizō V (五代目市川海老蔵: 11/1797 to 10/1800 and 3/1832 to 3/1859) (actor)
actor prints (yakusha-e - 役者絵) (genre)
Higuchi Kanemitsu (樋口兼光) (role)

---