The Sixty-nine Post Stations of the Kisokaidô Road,

 Part III

 

Kuniyoshi -  69 Stations of the Kisokaidô (S74

 

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

 

I am grateful to John Bassett for this alternate state of the above design.

Kuniyoshi -  69 Stations of the Kisokaidô (S74

 

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

Kuniyoshi -  69 Stations of the Kisokaidô (S74

 

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

Kuniyoshi -  69 Stations of the Kisokaidô (S74

 

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

Kuniyoshi -  69 Stations of the Kisokaidô (S74

 

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

 

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

 

I am grateful to John Bassett for this alternate state of the above design.

Kuniyoshi%20-%20%2069%20Stations%20of%20the%20Kisokaidô%20(S74.57),%20Miyeji,%203%20girls%20drinking%20sake%20around%20a%20fire%20while%20viewing%20autumn%20leaves

 

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

Kuniyoshi -  69 Stations of the Kisokaidô (S74

 

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

Kuniyoshi -  69 Stations of the Kisokaidô (S74

 

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

Kuniyoshi -  69 Stations of the Kisokaidô (S74

 

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

Kuniyoshi -  69 Stations of the Kisokaidô (S74

 

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

Kuniyoshi -  69 Stations of the Kisokaidô (S74

 

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

Kuniyoshi -  69 Stations of the Kisokaidô (S74

 

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

Kuniyoshi -  69 Stations of the Kisokaidô (S74

 

Another state of the above design, note the right lower corner

Kuniyoshi -  69 Stations of the Kisokaidô (S74

 

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

Kuniyoshi -  69 Stations of the Kisokaidô (S74

 

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

Kuniyoshi -  69 Stations of the Kisokaidô (S74

 

A darker version of the above design courtesy of Marc DeVriese

Kuniyoshi -  69 Stations of the Kisokaidô (S74

 

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

 

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.

Kuniyoshi -  69 Stations of the Kisokaidô (S74

 

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

Kuniyoshi%20-%20%2069%20Stations%20of%20the%20Kisokaidô%20(S74.70),%20Moriyama,%20Daruma%20eating%20an%20enormous%20quantity%20of%20spaghetti

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.

Kuniyoshi -  69 Stations of the Kisokaidô (S74

 

Another state of the above design, note the three cartouches in the right upper corner

Kuniyoshi -  69 Stations of the Kisokaidô (S74

 

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

Kuniyoshi -  69 Stations of the Kisokaidô (S74

 

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.

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