Utagawa Kunisada (歌川国貞) / Toyokuni III (三代豊国) (artist 1786 – 01/12/1865)
Iwai Kumesaburō III as Sakurahime (さくら姫) above and Ichikawa Danjūrō VIII as Seigen (清玄) below from the play Koigoromo Karigane-zome (恋衣雁金染) - a vertical diptych
01/13/1852
9.375 in x 26.5 in (Overall dimensions) Japanese woodblock print
Signed: Toyokuni ga (豊国画)
Publisher: Tsujiya Yasubei
Censors' seals: Kinugasa and Murata
Seal: shita-uri or 'discreet sale' (シタ売)
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Tokyo Metropolitan Library
Shizuoka Prefectural Library
National Diet Library - bottom panel
National Diet Library - top panel This print depicts a young woman floating through the air, clutching an umbrella, descending toward the ground. "Leaping from the stage..." is a phrase still used today to describe a bold act. "Is said to originate the ancient practice of jumping from a height to achieve fulfilment of a wish, such as the cure of an illness or success in a love affair." Eventually the platform at Kiyomizu Temple was incorporated into this description.
This was performed at the Kawarazaki theater. This version was written by Mokuami Kawatake (河竹黙阿弥: 1816-93).
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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."
Kakemono-e - 掛物絵 (genre)
Tsujiya Yasubei (辻屋安兵衛) (publisher)
Ichikawa Danjūrō VIII (八代目市川団十郎: 3/1832 - 6/8/1854) (actor)
Iwai Kumesaburō III (三代目岩井粂三郎: from 11/1832 to 1/1864) (actor)