Actor triptychs

1846

Actor: Ichimura Uzaemon XII as Shirabyôshi (しらびやうし)

Play: Edo Kanoko Ninin Dôjôji (江戸鹿子両人道成寺)

Date: 2^nd month of 1846 (censors Muramatsu and Yoshimura)

Theater:

Publisher: Tanba-ya Hanjirô (丹半)

NOTE: The sign reads “women prohibited” (nyonin kinsei, 女人禁制), which was common at some religious sites. The woodblocks for this print were partially recut and reused for the production of Kyoganoko musume Dôjôji in the intercalary 2^nd month of 1852. I am grateful to Robert Pryor for this image and information.

Actors: Ichimura Uzaemon XII as Hanaregoma Chôkichi (放駒蝶吉, left), Nakamura Utaemon IV as Nuregami Chôgorô (濡髪長五郎, center), and Ichimura Uzaemon XII as Chokichi’s older sister Oseki (蝶吉姉於世喜, right)

Play: Kochô Shibori Narumi no Shingata (蝶蝶絞成観新模)

Date: 4^th month of 1846 (censor Watanabe Shôemon)

Theater: Ichimura

Publisher: Takahisa

I am grateful to Robert Pryor for this image.

Actors: Ichimura Uzaemon XII as Oseki (おせき, left), Ichimura Uzaemon XII as Chôkichi (長吉, center), and Nakamura Utaemon IV as Chôgorô (長五郎, right)

Play: Kochô Shibori Narumi no Shingata (蝶蝶絞成観新模)

Date: 4^th month of 1846 (censor Watanabe Shôemon)

Theater: Ichimura

Publisher: Kame-ya Iwakichi

Actors: Probably Ichimura Uzaemon XII as Yamazaki Yogorô (山崎与五郎, left) and Bandô Shûka I as the courtesan Fujiya Azuma (藤屋吾妻, right)

Play: Kochô Shibori Narumi no Shingata (蝶蝶絞成観新模)

Date: 4^th month of 1846 (censor Watanabe Shôemon)

Theater: Ichimura

Publisher: Koga-ya Katsugorô

Text: 山ざき与五郎は神崎藤やの吾妻といへる遊君に馴染 父の勘気を受流浪す 吾妻これを歎き深くいたはり貞心を尽す 父母是を感じ勘気をゆるし吾妻を迎て与五郎が妻とす　夫より夫婦よく両親に孝を尽すと言

Actors: Sawamura Sojûrô V as lord Sugawara Michizane (Sugawara Michizane Kô, 菅原道真公, left), Ichikawa Danjûrô VIII as lord Fujiwara Tokihira (Fujiwara no Tokihira Kô, 藤原時平 公, center), and Bandô Hikosaburô IV as Takebe Genzô (武部源蔵, right)

Play: Tenmangû wakaba no koaishu (天満宮緑梅松桜)

Date: 5^th month of 1846

Theater: Kawarasaki

Publisher: Kasei

Text: 菅原道真公は藤原の時平公が讒言によつて無失の菜を け給ひて筑紫へ配流せらる 武部源蔵は師の勘気を受てありしが 他外ながらせひ／＼御詫して御暇乞をなし御名残を惜む

I am grateful to Robert Pryor for this alternate state of the above triptych.

I am grateful to Robert Pryor for this state with a single color band in the text cartouche.

Triptych title: Copy-book of Loyalty (Chûkô tenarai-zôshi, 忠孝手習艸紙)

Actors: Ichikawa Shinsha I as Sakuramaru’s wife (nyobo) Yae (女房八重, left), Ichikawa Danjûrô VIII as Toneri Sakuramaru (舎人桜丸, center), and Bandô Hikosaburô IV as the peasant Shiradayû (百姓白太夫, right)　

Play: Tenmangû wakaba no koaishu (天満宮緑梅松桜)

Date: 5^th month of 1846 (censor Watanabe Shôemon)

Theater: Kawarasaki

Publisher: Kazusa-ya Iwazô

Text: Right sheet: 桜丸は主君の御娘かり屋姫を親王になかだちなせし処 藤原の時平ときを得て丞相を讒言す これによつて菅公筑紫へ配流せらる

Center sheet: 桜丸は父白太夫が許にきたつて 身のつみをわび切腹なして主君へまうしわけを

Left sheet: なさんとこれを談ず 父白太夫手づから短剣をもつて生害をすゝむ 白太夫また妻八重がこゝろおし量るべし　親子が義心妻が貞節実にこれ世人のかゞみなり

NOTE: The right sheet is listed in Kuniyoshi: The Warrior-Prints by Basil William Robinson (Cornell University Press, Ithaca, NY, 1982) as S41.1, with “Copy-book of Loyalty” assumed to be the title of a series. I am grateful to Lucienne Parkan and Robert Pryor for information about this triptych.

I am grateful to Robert Pryor for this sheet from another state with a multicolor cartouche.

Actors: Nakamura Utaemon IV as Aoto Fujitsuna (青砥藤綱)

Play: Aoto Zôshi (青砥稿)

Date: 7^th month of 1846

Theater: Ichimura

Publisher: Sumiyoshi-ya Masagorô

Actors: Unidentified actor as Ono no Komachi (left), Bandô Hikosaburô IV as Sekibei (関兵衛, center), and also as Munesada (宗貞, right)

Play: Tsumoru koi yuki no seki no to (積恋雪関扉, Love and Deep Snow at the Mountain Barrier)

Date: 11^th month of 1846

Theater: Nakamura

Publisher: Jôshû-ya Kinzô

NOTE: A modified version of this design was republished for the performance of Tsumoru koi yukino seki no to in the 11^th month of 1853.

Another state of the above triptych with a black band on top

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