The Sixty-nine Post Stations of the Kisokaidô Road,
Part
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Station: Mitake (御嶽) Number on print: 50 Main scene: Akushichibyôe Kagekiyo (惡七兵衛景清) carrying a naginata (pole arm) on the colossal Buddha
of Tôdaiji where he was arrested Insert: Huts by a
river and mountains in mist Publisher: Sumiyoshi-ya Masagorô Robinson: S74.51 |
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I am grateful to John Bassett for this alternate state of the
above design. |
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Station: Fushimi (伏見) Number on print: 51 Main scene: Tokiwa-gozen (常磐御前) sheltering
her three children Insert: Road past a
teahouse, rice paddies and distant hills Publisher: Hayashi-ya Shôgorô Robinson: S74.52 |
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Station: Ôta (太田) Number on print: 52 Main scene: Amagawa-ya Gihei (天川屋義平) seizing Yabui Ryôchiku (藪医了竹) by the collar
of his coat in a scene from the kabuki
play ‘Kanadehon chűshingura’ Insert: Tree-lined
road among hills Publisher: Kobayashi Taijirô Robinson: S74.53 |
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Station: Unuma (鵜沼) Number on print: 53 Main scene: Yoemon (与右工門) killing his
deformed wife Kasane (女房累) with a sickle
as her spirit departs the body to return as an avenging ghost Insert: Rocky landscape
with waterfall and distant mountain Publisher: Kadzusa-ya Iwazô Robinson: S74.54 |
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Station: Kanô (加納) Number on print: 54 Subtitle: Hôtarô and His Nurse (坊太郎 乳母) Main scene: Hôtarô (坊太郎) and his nurse
O-Tsuji in a wind by a lotus plantation Insert: Road
ascending from a rest house between banks and pine trees Publisher: Yahata-ya Sakujirô Robinson: S74.55 |
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Station: Gôdo (河渡) Number on print: 55 Subtitle: Blind Men Travelling (Tabi zatô,
旅坐頭) Main scene: Girl watching
blind men crossing a river Insert: Pine trees on
hillock and distant mountain Publisher: Kadzusa-ya Iwazô Robinson: S74.56 |
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I am grateful to John Bassett for this alternate state of the
above design. |
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Station: Mieji (美江寺) Number on print: 56 Subtitle: Maple-leaf Viewing (Momijigari,
紅葉狩) Main scene: three girls
drinking sake around a fire while
viewing autumn leaves Insert: Road
ascending from a rest house between banks and pine trees Publisher: Kaga-ya Yasubei Robinson: S74.57 |
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Station: Akasaka (赤坂) Number on print: 57 Main scene: Empress Kômyô (光明皇后), attended by
a maid, washing Buddha in the form of a diseased beggar Insert: Road through
rice paddies with blooming cherry trees and distant mountain Publisher: Ise-ya Kanekichi Robinson: S74.58 |
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Station: Tarui (垂井) Number on print: 58 Main scene: Sarunosuke (猿之助) being tied to
a well by three other boys Insert: Wooded
hillside, rooftops and distant mountain Publisher: Yahata-ya Sakujirô Robinson: S74.59 |
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Station: Sekigahara (関ヶ原) Number on print: 59 Main scene: sumô wrestlers Hanaregoma
Chôkichi (放駒蝶吉) and Nuregami Chôgorô (濡髪蝶五郎) in combat Insert: Travelers
crossing a mountain Publisher: Izutsu-ya Shôkichi Robinson: S74.60 |
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Station: Imasu (今須) Number on print: 60 Main scene: the Soga
brothers (曾我兄弟), with drawn
swords, about to enter tent of Kudô Suketsune, their father’s murderer Insert: Travelers
with a packhorse approaching a village Publisher: Tsujioka-ya Bunsuke Robinson: S74.61 |
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Station: Kashiwabara (柏原) Number on print: 61 Main scene: The geisha Sankatsu
of the Kasa-ya (笠屋三勝) with a
servant carrying her effects, including a pair of brocade-wrapped swords Insert: Travelers on
a road with pine trees and a distant mountain Publisher: Yahata-ya Sakujirô Robinson: S74.62 |
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Station: Samegai (醒ヶ井) Number on print: 62 Main scene: Kanai Tanigorô (金井谷五郎) thrusts a
monstrous lizard over a precipice with a bamboo spear saving a damsel in
distress who cowers behind him Insert: Distant
mountain in the mist Publisher: Tsujioka-ya Bunsuke Robinson: S74.63 |
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Another state of the above design, note the right lower corner |
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Station: Bamba (番場) Number on print: 63 Main scene: The painter domori (stammerer) Matabei
(吃又平) squatting
outside his house with his wife, Otoku. The agitated figure by Otoku
is Utanosuke (歌之助), Matabei’s rival for the art name “Tosa”. The kneeling figure, whose face is obscured
by the title cartouche, is probably the art master Tosa
Mitsunobu. Insert: A wide road
through a hilly landscape Publisher: Ise-ya Kanekichi Robinson: S74.64 |
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Station: Toriimoto (鳥居本) Number on print: 64 Main scene: Taira no Tadamori (平忠盛) catching the
oil thief (油坊主) who had been
mistaken for a fire-breathing monster Insert: Travelers on
a flat road by a single tree Publisher: Takada-ya Takezô Robinson: S74.65 |
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A darker version of the above design courtesy of Marc DeVriese |
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Station: Takamiya (髙宮) Number on print: 65 Main scene: Kamiya Iemon (神谷伊右ヱ門), villain of
the kabuki play Yotsuya
kwaidan, fishing Insert: Rice paddies
and distant hills with a large pine tree in the foreground Publisher: Kobayashi Taijirô Robinson: S74.66 |
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Station: Echikawa (越川) Number on print: 66 Main scene: Sagi-no-ike Heikurô
(鷺池平九郎) attended by
his squire, washing his axe in a river with three severed heads beside him Insert: Farmhouse and
rice paddies with a mountain behind Publisher: Kadzusa-ya Iwazô Robinson: S74.67 |
Station: Musa (武佐) Number on print: 48 (it should
be 67) Main scene: The swordsman
Miyamoto Musashi (宮本無三四), suspended over
a chasm in a traveling cradle, strikes at a monstrous bat Insert: Travelers in
open country approaching a village Publisher: Sumiyoshi-ya Masagorô Robinson: S74.68 NOTE: Three
different states of this print are shown.
The above print by Johan Nieuhof
(1618-1672) appears to have influenced the preceding print by Kuniyoshi. Kuniyoshi is known to have had access to a
book of Johan Nieuhof’s engravings. |
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Station: Kusatsu (草津) Number on print: 67 (it should
be 68) Main scene: actor
Ichikawa Danjűrô VIII in the role of Kwanja
Yoshitaka (冠者義髙) looking down
at a bearer tied to a standing horse Insert: Travelers
approaching a stone embankment Publisher: Minato-ya Kohei Robinson: S74.69 |
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Station: Moriyama (守山) Number on print: 68 (it should
be 69) Main scene: Daruma Daishi
(達磨大師) eating an
enormous quantity of spaghetti Insert: Travelers on
a flat tree-lined road Publisher: Takada-ya Takezô Robinson: S74.70 NOTE: Bodhidharma,
the Indian monk who founded the Zen sect of Buddhism, is known as Daruma in
Japan. He introduced Zen Buddhism into
China, from where it spread to Korea and then to Japan. |
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Another state of the above design, note the three cartouches in
the right upper corner |
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Station: Ôtsu (大津) Number on print: 70 Main scene: Koman (小万) swimming near Munemori’s
barge with the white Minamoto banner in her mouth Insert: A waterfall
in the mountains Publisher: Minato-ya Kohei Robinson: S74.71 |
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Station: Kyoto (京都) Number on print: taibi (the end) Main scene: The Nue (鵺 大尾),
which was a beast with the head of a monkey, the claws of a tiger, the back
of a badger and a snake for a tail. It
spent its nights on the roof of the Emperor’s palace in Kyoto, causing him
grave illness until it was slain. Insert: A wooded
mountain Publisher: Minato-ya Kohei Robinson: S74.72 |
“Robinson” refers to listing in Kuniyoshi: The Warrior-Prints by Basil William Robinson (Cornell University Press, Ithaca, NY, 1982) and its privately published supplement. CLICK
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