Utagawa Kunisada (Toyokuni III)

1786-1865

Actors at the Fifty-Three Stations of the Tokaido: Arai Station, Kojoro
([Yakusha mitate] Tokaido gojusan tsugi no uchi: Arai eki, Kojoro)

signed Toyokuni ga, carver's seal hori Take, publisher's seal Kichi, Isekane (Iseya Kanekichi), censor seals Fuku and Muramatsu, and date seal Ni-roku (year of the rat [1852], 6th month)

oban tate-e 14 5/8 by 10 1/4 in., 37 by 26 cm

The actor Iwai Kumesaburo III (Iwai Hanshiro VIII, 1829-1882) is in the role of Hakata Kojoro from the play Hakata Kojoro (Kojoro from Hakata). The composition is set in Arai station due to its location on the sea, by which she waits for her beloved Komachiya Soshichi to come to her. Interestingly, Kumesaburo had never played the role of Kojoro at the time of the print's publication, and still would not for another nine years.

Reference:
Andreas Marks, Kunisada's Tokaido: Riddles in Japanese Woodblock Prints, 2013, p. 140, cat. T63-32

her lover, Komachiya Soshichi, by Natori Shunsen, 1927 view print

price: $550