Gigadō Ashiyuki (戯画堂芦ゆき) (artist )

Arash Rikan II (嵐璃寛) as the yakko Tsumahei (奴妻平) in Shin Usuyuki Monogatari [新うすゆき物語]

Print

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Date:01/1829
Dimensions:10.125 in x 15 in (Overall dimensions) Medium:Japanese woodblock print
Inscription:Signed: Gigadō Ashiyuki
戯画堂芦ゆき画
Publisher: Honya Seishichi (Marks 123 - seal 25-527)

Links Museum of Fine Arts, Boston - all four panels
Lyon Collection - the complete tetraptych
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston - a different Ashiyuki representation of this figure from the same year - a poem slip is not apparent in this one Description:Notice the flowering cherry branch that Tsumahei is carrying. It is cut from a tree at the Kiyomizu Temple in Kyoto and has a poem slip attached to it. It was written by Usuyuki-hime, one of the two heroines of this play. Much of the plot is centered around this poem slip.

This print commemorates a performance at the Naka Theater in the first month of 1829. Competing theaters in Osaka performed the same play at the same time, but under slightly different titles.

Ashiyuki created a totally different print of this actor in this role from the same year. The example of that one in the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston shows no publisher's seal. There too his head is highlighted by a branch of flowering cherry blossoms he is holding, but his wig/hairstyle appears to be somewhat different. (See the link above.)

There are four panels in this composition.

The complete tetraptych in Lyon Collection

The actors and roles in this print from right to left are: Arashi Sangorō IV as Sonobe no Saemon (園部ノ左衛門　四代目嵐三五郎), Rikan II as Tsumahei, Bandō Jūtarō I as the koshimoto Magaki (妼まかき　初代坂東寿太郎) and Fujikawa Tomokichi II as Usuyuki-hime (薄雪姫　二代目藤川友吉).
Related entities Kyōto-Osaka prints (kamigata-e - 上方絵) (genre)
actor prints (yakusha-e - 役者絵) (genre)
Honya Seishichi (本屋清七) (publisher)
Arashi Rikan II (二代目嵐璃寛: 9/1828 - 6/1837) (actor)
Shin Usuyuki Monogatari (新うすゆき物語) (kabuki)

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