Actors playing the game of ken,
Part
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Triptych title: Three People
Drinking at the New Year (Shunkyô sannin namayoi, 春興三人生酔) Dance interlude: Warau kado niwaka no shichifuku (笑門俄七福) Description: Ichikawa Kuzô II as Haji no omi Tomonari (土師臣登茂成, left),
Nakamura Utaemon IV as fisherman Hinokuma Hamanari (桧熊浜成, center), and
Matsumoto Kinshô I as Hinokuma
Takenari (桧熊武成, right)
playing ken Date: 1st
month of 1847 (censors Muramatsu and Yoshimura) Theater: Kawarasaki Publisher: Takano-ya Tomoemon I am grateful to Robert Pryor for this image and
information. |
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Triptych title: Comical Ken Gestures (Dôke miburi ken, 道外見ぶりけん) Dance interlude: Warau kado niwaka no shichifuku Description: Ôban triptych of actors Nakamura Utaemon IV, Ichikawa Kuzô II,
and Matsumoto Kinshô I playing ken Date: 1st
month of 1847 Theater: Kawarasaki Publisher: Kazusa-ya Iwazô Linhart: 10/30024 NOTE: Some of the woodblocks
for this triptych were reused for the production of Iro shina o kaete ken zake in the 1st month of 1848. |
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Diptych title: Shinsaku tsukutsukuken (新作つく／＼けん) Dance interlude: Tabi suzume miyoshi no irodoki (Romance
of the Traveling Sparrow Miyoshi, 旅雀三芳秋) Description: Actors
Ichikawa Kuzô II (left) and
Nakamura Utaemon IV (right) playing ken Date: 9th
month of 1847 Theater: Kawarasaki Publisher: Iba-ya Kyûbei Linhart: 22/20011 |
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Diptych title: Beauty
Contest of the Things that Belong Together (Irokurabe
Tsukumono ken) Dance interlude: Tabi suzume miyoshi no irodoki (Romance
of the Traveling Sparrow Miyoshi, 旅雀三芳秋) Description: Actors
Ichikawa Kuzô II as the
talking bird seller (hanashidoriuri, はなし鳥うり, left) and
Nakamura Utaemon IV as a priest of Kasuga (the
Grand Shrine) (Kasuga no negi, 春日の祢宜, right)
playing ken Date: 9th
month of 1847 Theater: Kawarasaki Publisher: Linhart: 23/20012 |
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I am grateful to Robert
Pryor for this alternate state with this text: ひつつくけん ついたは／＼ひつたりひた／＼つくものは何／＼とのさんにおやりついのはさみ箱太夫に三味線とてつる天狗に牛若ヤ トヲ／＼まいつた／＼やとゝんとん |
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Diptych title: Tsukumono-ken hitori geiko Dance interlude: Tabi suzume miyoshi no irodoki (Romance
of the Traveling Sparrow Miyoshi, 旅雀三芳秋) Description: Actors
Ichikawa Kuzô II (left) and
Nakamura Utaemon IV (right) playing ken Date: 9th
month of 1847 Theater: Kawarasaki Publisher: Kita-ya Magobei Linhart: 24/20013 |
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Diptych title: Tsukumono-ken Dance interlude: Tabi suzume miyoshi no irodoki (Romance
of the Traveling Sparrow Miyoshi, 旅雀三芳秋) Description: Actors
Ichikawa Kuzô II (left),
Nakamura Utaemon IV (right), and Onoe Baikô IV (in
female role) playing ken Date: 9th
month of 1847 Theater: Kawarasaki Publisher: Iba-ya Sensaburô Linhart: 25/20014 |
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Diptych title: Untitled Dance interlude: Tabi suzume miyoshi no irodoki (Romance
of the Traveling Sparrow Miyoshi, 旅雀三芳秋) Description: Actors
Nakamura Utaemon IV (left) and Ichikawa Kuzô II (right) playing ken Date: 9th
month of 1847 Publisher: Ebi-ya Rinnosuke Theater: Kawarasaki Linhart: 26/20015 |
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Ôban title: Three
Countries’ Ken (Sangoku ken, 三国拳) Dance interlude: A Ken Game
with New Rules to the First Cry of the Cock (Shinki ikken tori no hatsugoe, 新規一拳酉魁声) Description: Actors
Ichimura Uzaemon XII as Tobigashira
Kakichi (for the Ise Shrine of Japan), Nakamura Utaemon IV as the fortuneteller (uranaisha)
Sangokuken (for Confucius in China), and Seki Sanjûrô III as the quack doctor (taiko isha) Hôfutei (for the
Buddha in India) Date: 1st
month of 1849 (censors Publisher: Izutsu-ya Shôkichi Theater: Ichimura Linhart: 35/10021 NOTE: This print is signed Ichiyûsai giga (一勇斎戯画). I am grateful to Marc DeVriese for this
image. |
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Diptych title: Sangokuken Actors:
Left sheet: Bandô Shûka I
as Ohide of Kewaizaka (大中の丁お秀, female) and Ichimura Uzaemon
XII as Tobigashira Kakichi
(鳶の頭嘉吉) Right sheet: Nakamura
Utaemon IV as the fortuneteller (uranaisha) Sangokuken (駒形の占者三☆) Dance interlude: Shinki ikken tori no hatsugoe (A Ken
Game with New Rules to the First Cry of the Cock) Date:
1st month of 1849 (censors Hama and Magome) Publisher:
Ôta-ya Takichi Theater:
Ichimura Linhart: 36/20016 |
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Title: Tori no haru shinki ikken tori sangokuken Description: Actors
Nakamura Utaemon IV, Ichimura Uzaemon
XII and Seki Sanjûrô Date: 2nd
month of 1849 (censors Kinugasa and Yoshimura) Linhart: 43/10042 I am grateful to Robert Pryor for this image. |
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Title: Asakusa-ken Description: Actors Arashi
Yoshisaburô Dance interlude: The Treasure
Ship Entering the Date: 2nd
month of 1853 Publisher: Tsujioka-ya Bunsuke Linhart: 59/10152 |
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Triptych title: None Dance interlude: Hana ni Tori
Sakigake Soga (花鳥魁曽我) Description: Actors
Nakamura Shikan I (left) and Bandô Minosuke II (center) in the roles of Shichibei
and Sangorô are playing sangoku-ken. Actor Seki Sanjûrô II is watching (right). Date: 1st
month of 1832 Theater: Nakamura Publisher: Ota-ya Sakichi Linhart: Not listed I am grateful to Robert Pryor for this image. |
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Polyptych title: Collection of
Eight Ken Games of the East (Azuma hakken shû, 東八拳集) Description: Ôban polyptych of actors playing ken
1.
Sawamura Sôjûrô V Date: 7th
month of 1852 Publisher: Mita-ya Kihachi (left two sheets)
and Yamaguchi-ya Tôbei
(right two sheets) Linhart: /40001 |
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I am grateful to Robert Pryor for this alternate
state of the above design with the actor’s names. |
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Sheet from another state of the above polyptych |
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Diptych title: Twilight Ken (Yûgure ken, 夕ぐれけん) Play: Probably from
a dance interlude accompanying Kamakura
yamasakura no gosho zome Description: Ôban diptych of
actors in female roles playing ken
during a kabuki musical
interlude. The portraits in the two
circles are Sawamura Chôjûrô V as Meshitsukai Ohatsu (召仕お初, left) and
Onoe Baikô IV as chûrô Onoe (中老尾上, right). The following actors are displayed (from
left to right): An unidentified actor as Yadorigi (よこぶえ) An unidentified actor as Ushijima Chikara (牛島主税) Matsumoto Kinshô I as tsubone Iwafuji (局岩藤) Ôtani Tomoemon IV as Yokobue (よこぶえ) Seki Utasuke II as Yomogifu
(よもぎふ) Nakayama Genjûrô as Eawase
(絵あわせ) An unidentified actor as Tokonatsu (とこ夏) Ôtani Hiroemon V as Akashi
(あかし) Date: 3rd
month of 1848 (censors Muramatsu and Yoshimura) Publisher: Iba-ya Sensaburô Text: 夕ぐれの詠め見あかぬすみ田川 月にふぜいをまつち山 名所があるわいな Linhart: /20007 I am grateful to Robert Pryor for this image and information. |
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Title of
triptych: Parallels of the Three Shrines (Mitate
San Sha, 㸔立三社) Dance interlude: Tabi suzume miyoshi no irodoki (Romance
of the Traveling Sparrow Miyoshi, 旅雀三芳秋) Description: Nakamura Utaemon IV as a priest of Kasuga (the Grand Shrine) (Kasuga
no negi, 春日の祢ぎ, left), Onoe
Baikô IV as the bird catcher (torisashi, 鳥さし, center), and
Ichikawa Kuzô II as a talking bird seller (hanashidoriuri, はなし鳥うり, right),
dancing Date: 9th
month of 1847 Publisher: Wakasen (若仙) Text: Right sheet: けん 付いたは／＼びつたりひた／＼つくものは何に／＼とのさんに Left sheet: おさへてかさねて, きつねでサアきなせ, 古るいぞ／＼ 見だされた Theater: Kawarasaki Linhart: Not listed I am grateful to Robert Pryor for this image and information. |
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Title of
triptych: Gestures of Comical Roles in Kabuki Plays (道外見ぶりけん, Dôke miburi ken) Play:
Iro shina o kaete ken zake (色品替拳酒) Date:
1st month of 1848 (censors Muramatsu and Yoshimura) Theater:
Nakamura Publisher: Kazusa-ya Iwazô Linhart: Not listed |
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“Linhart” refers to listing in the article ‘Kuniyoshi’s
Ken Caricatures between 1847 and 1853’, by Sepp Linhart in Andon, Vol. 83, 2008, pp. 5-29 CLICK HERE TO RETURN TO MAIN
PAGE
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