Polyptychs of four or more sheets
Part I
Unless otherwise noted, the individual panels are each about 14 by 10 inches (36 by 25 centimeters), a size known as ôban. I am grateful to Ward Pieters for assisting with this section.
Title
of polyptych: Stylish Handsome Faces in the Summer (Tôsei natsu no fuji bitai, 當盛夏の富士びたい) Actors
from left: First: Iwai Kumesaburô III Second: Sawamura Chôjûrô
V Third: Arashi Kichisaburô
III Fourth: Bandô Shûka
I Fifth: Ichikawa Danjûrô VIII Date: 6th
month of 1852 Publisher: Ebi-ya
Rinnosuke (海老屋林之助) |
Actors: A single
sheet from another state of the above polyptych showing Ichikawa Danjûrô VIII Date: 6th
month of 1852 Publisher: Ebi-ya
Rinnosuke |
Actors from
left: First: Onoe Matsusuke Second: Ichikawa Ebizô V as Dozaemon Denkichi (土左衛門伝吉) Third: Onoe Kikugorô Fourth: Iwai Hanshirô VI as yaoya Oshichi (八百屋お七) Play: Sono mukashi koi no edozome (其往昔恋江戸染) Date: 1st
month of 1833 Theater: Kawarasaki Publisher: Kawaguchi-ya
Shôzô |
Title: Flowers of
Edo: Five Otokodate (Edo no hana no gonin otoko, 江戸の花五人男) Actors from
left: First: Sawamura Tosshô I as Gokuin Chiemon (極印千右衛門) Second: Nakamura Shikan II as Otonai (安の平兵衛) Third: Bandô Mitsugorô IV as Hotei Ichiemon (布袋市右衛門) Fourth: Ichikawa Danjûrô Fifth: Onoe Kikugorô Play: Theater: Date: 1835 Publisher: Kawaguchi-ya
Chôzô NOTE: In this
polyptych and in the two following, the background is printed entirely in
Prussian blue, a style known as aizuri-e. Bandô Mitsugorô IV’s name is
written as Bandô Shûchô (坂東 秀調), instead of as Bandô Mitsugorô (坂東 三津五郎). |
Title: Flowers of
Edo: Five Otokodate (Edo no hana no gonin otoko, 江戸の花五人男) Actors from
left: First: Sawamura Tosshô I as Gokuin Chiemon (極印千右衛門) Second: Nakamura Shikan II as Otonai (安の平兵衛) Third: Bandô Mitsugorô IV as Hotei Ichiemon (布袋市右衛門) Fourth: Ichikawa Danjûrô Fifth: Onoe Kikugorô Play: Theater: Date: 1835 Publisher: Edo-ya
Matsugorô NOTE: This is
another state of the preceding pentaptych |
Actors from
left: First: Ichikawa Ebizô V Second: Bandô Mitsugorô Play: Theater: Date: 1832 Publisher: Kawaguchi-ya
Chôzô |
Five actors as musicians with insets showing their roles in the
play Kanadehon Chûshingura Actors from
left: First: Bandô Shûka I with large drum (taiko, 太鼓); inset is Ichimura Takenojô V as Ôboshi
Yuranosuke (大星由良之助) Second: Arashi Kishisaburô with large hand drum (dai tsuzumi, 大鼓); inset is Bandô Shûka I as
koshimoto Okaru (こし元於かる) Third: Ichikawa Kuzô II with small hand drum (shô tsuzumi, 小鼓); inset is Ichikawa Danjûrô
VIII as Hayano Kanpei (早野勘平) Fourth: Ichimura Takenojô V chanting (yô, 謡); inset is Arashi Kishisaburô Fifth: Ichikawa
Danjûrô VIII with bamboo flute (fue,
笛); inset is
Ichikawa Kuzô II as Takano Moronao (高の師直) Play: Kanadehon Chûshingura (仮名手本忠臣蔵) Date: 2nd
month of 1851 (censors Hama and Magome)
Theater: Ichimura Publisher: Te |
Title: Songs for Spring Worth One Thousand Gold Coins (Shun ei, atai sen
kin, 春詠價千金) Actors from
left: First: Arashi Rikan II Second: Nakamura Kanjaku II (died 1842) Third: Ichimura Kakitsu Fourth: Ichikawa Hakuen II (Ichikawa Danjûrô Fifth: Iwai Shijaku I Play: Theater: Date: Publisher: Izumi-ya
Ichibei I am grateful to Frederik Balhuizen and Josta Klaassen for this image. |
Actors from
left: First: Sawamura Sôjûrô V as Gokuin Chiemon (極印千右衛門) Second: Ichikawa Danjûrô VIII as Karigane Bunshichi (雁金文七) Third: Nakamura Utaemon IV as Hotei Ichiemon (布袋市右衛門) Fourth: Ichikawa Kuzô II as Otonai (安の平兵衛) Fifth: Matsumoto Koshirô VI as Rai Shokuro (雷庄九郎) Play: Theater: Date: 1846-1848
(censors Muramatsu and Yoshimura) Publisher: Jôshû-ya Juzô |
Title: 正名江戸っ子揃 Actors from
left: First: Ichikawa Kuzô II as Otonai (安の平兵衛) Second: Ichikawa Ebizô V as Rai Shokuro (雷正九郎) Third: Ichimura Uzaemon XII as Karigane Bunshichi (雁金文七) Fourth: Nakamura Utaemon IV as Hotei Ichiemon (布袋市右衛門) Fifth: Sawamura Tosshô I as Gokuin Chiemon (極印千右衛門) Play: Theater: Date: c. 1833-1835 Publisher: Sôshû-ya
Yohei |
Another state of the above center sheet with actor’s name changed
Ichimura Uzaemon (市村羽左衛門) to from Iwai Hanshirô (岩井半四郎) |
This altered version of the above design bears the seals of the
censors Fuku and Muramatsu, indicating a date of
1849-1851. |
Title: None Actors from
left: Ichikawa Ebizô V as Kaminari no Onaka (雷庄のおなか) Onoe Baikô Iwai Tojaku I as Hotei no Oichi Play: A mitate (roles not actually performed
on stage) Date: 1832-1846 Publisher: Edo-ya
Matsugorô NOTE: Well known
actors are shown in female roles. The
resemblance to the Five Otokodate
suggests that these three sheets are from a polyptych of five sheets. I am grateful to Marc DeVriese for this
image. |
Actors from
left: First: Iwai Hanshirô VI as Maidzuru (まいづる) Second: Ichikawa Ebizô V as Soga no Gorô Tokimune (五郎時宗) Third: Sawamura Tosshô I as Kudo Saemon (工藤祐つね) Fourth: Onoe Kikugorô Play: Fuji Ogito Mimasu Soga (富士扇三升曽我) Date: 1st
month of 1833 Theater: Kawarasaki Publisher: Yamaguchi-ya Tobei |
Title: Teijo misaho kagami (貞女みさほかゞみ or てい女みさほ鏡) Description: Actor in front
of silhouettes of revelers in a greenhouse (brothel) Actors from
left: First: Onoe Kikugorô Second: Unidentified actor as Fukuoka Mitsugi (福岡貢) subduing a foe Third: Sawamura Sojûrô V Hachirobee (八郎兵衛) Fourth: Ichikawa Danjûrô VIII as Gengobei (源五兵へ) Fifth: Sawamura Chojûrô V as Nagoya Sensaburô (名古屋山三) Play: Godairiki Koi no Fûjime (五大力恋緘) Theater: Date: 1846 or
earlier Publisher: Hon-ya
Genpachi |
Title: Mitate Kinryûzan kaichô no zu (見立金龍山開帳の図, Imaginary
Scene of the Display of Secret Image at Kinryûzan Temple) Actors from
left:
Ichimura Uzaemon XII and Onoe Baikô IV Ichikawa Danjûrô VIII and Onoe Kikugorô Matsumoto Koshirô VI as ほり房次 and Sawamura Chôjûrô V as Lady Iwafuji (局 岩藤) Ichikawa Danjûrô VIII as 来国俊 and Bandô
Shûka I as Ohatsu (おはつ) Nakamura Utaemon IV as Ishidome Busuke (石留武助) and
Onoe Kikujirô II as Oren
(おれん) Play: Hatsu Sakura Onoe no Iwafuji (初桜尾上岩藤) Date: 3rd
month of 1847 (censors Mera and Murata) Theater: Ichimura Publisher: Iba-ya
Sensaburô |
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) |
Title on left: Beauties Enjoying Themselves in the Garden (美人庭遊びBijin niwa asobi) Title on right: Boating in
the Chinese Style (准漢舩遊び, Jukan Funa Asobi) Description: Prince Genji?
watching from a balcony as two ladies are being rowed in a fantastic, ornate
dragon boat by young girls in Chinese costumes Date: 1849-1852
(censors Hama and Magome) Publisher: Sumiyoshi-ya Masagorô (a later state bears the seal of
the publisher Wakasa-ya Yoichi) |
Description: Boys parading
on the shore at sunset Date: c. 1840 Publisher: Izumi-ya
Ichibei |
Title: Modern
Checkered Materials for Night Cooling among the Flowers (Tôji ichimatsu hana no yo-suzumi, 當時一松花の夜涼) Description: Women in
checkered robes, each standing before an oversized flower Date: c. 1848 Publisher: Ki-ya Sôjirô NOTE: These prints
are listed as series number 112 in Kuniyoshi
by Basil William Robinson (Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 1961). However, the continuous nature of the
background suggests that these sheets were intended to be placed side-by-side
to form a polyptych. |
Another state of the above prints published by Iba-ya Kyûbei |
Title: Illustration
of the Second Floor of the Kadoebiya Pleasure House in Shin-Yoshiwara (Shinyoshiwara
Kyômachi itchôme Kadoebiya hore nikai) Date: c. 1840 Publisher: No seal NOTE:
This pentaptych was published privately on behalf
of Kadoebiya about 1840. It was not intended for selling, but was a
present to customers of the brothel after a fire. The cartouche in the right lower corner,
which is partially cut off in this example, reads “forbidden to buy or to
sell”. |
Description: Bijin dressed as otokodate, separated by stylized cloud bands Date: 1846-1852 Publisher: Kame-ya
Iwakichi |
Beauties from
left: First: Matsu Kicho of the Nomatsuya in Second: Toyoka of the Okamotoya with her kamuro Kiyono and Hanano Third: Tamasho of the Yatama with her kamuro Hazsune and Iroka Fourth: Usugumo (薄雲) of the Tama-ya Fifth: Hanao of the Ôgi-ya Date: c. 1838 Publisher: Sano-ya Kihei |
Description: Unidentified
actors Date: 1846-1849 Publisher: Fujioka-ya
Keijirô NOTE: The three
sheets on the right have seals of censors Muramatsu and Yoshimura, dating
them to 1846-1848. The two left hand
sheets have seals of censors Kinugasa and Yoshimura, dating them to 1849. Most likely, the three right sheets were
conceived as a triptych that was later expanded. |