Utagawa Kunisada (Toyokuni III)

1786-1865

Onoe Kikujiro II as Geisha Osame, Nakamura Kantaro as Wakaimono Kahei, Nakamura Fukusuke as Kamiyui Hakata Shinshichi, and Nakamura Kozo I as Wakaimono Chushichi

both sheets signed Toyokuni ga, with publisher's seal Terifuricho, Ebisuya (Ebisuya Shoshichi, Kinshodo), censor's seals Hama and Magome, and date seal Ushi-go (fifth lunar month, year of the ox [1853])

oban tate-e 14 1/4 by 19 1/2 in., 36.2 by 49.6 cm

This bloody scene depicts an episode from the play Kokoro Bakari Edo-e no Kakegaku staged at the Ichimura Theater in 1853. The actor Nakamura Fukusuke (Nakamura Shikan IV, 1831-1899) is in the role of the heroic hairdresser (kamiyui) Hakata Shinshichi, who has thwarted an attack upon the Geisha Osame played by Onoe Kikujiro II (1814-1875), by the villains manservant (wakaimono) Kahei and manservant (wakaimono) Chushichi, played by Nakamura Kantaro (1818-1873) and Nakamura Kozo I (d. 1860), respectively. An extant printed playbill (tsuji banzuke) for this play lists the cast including all four actors with in these roles.

References:
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, acquisition no. 11.43692a-b
Waseda University Theater Museum, nos. 201-4076 (R) and 201-4077 (L); and 100-6543 (L)

(inv. no. C-3339)

price: $700