Description:
single panel of a vertical ōban triptych; yakusha-e; musha-e; nishiki-e
Label Text:
This print is signed at lower-right "Toyokuni ga" ('drawn by Toyokuni') within a red and yellow toshidama cartouche, a design consistent with Kunisada's output after 1850. To the left of the signature is the mark of publisher Sagamiya Tōkichi, who is known to have published unserialized actor prints (yakusha-e) by Kunisada during the late 1850s. The date of publication has been pinpointed via the two seals of the censor: the round aratame and the ovoid date seal, which notes a date of inspection as the fourth lunar month of 1857 (Ansei 4). The role of Saitō Musashibō Benkei, a 12th-century warrior monk who appears in many kabuki plays and has come to embody the archetype of the strong, gruff warrior with a proverbial heart of gold, is indicated at top-left in the yellow cartouche.
The identity of the actor has been determined via records at the Waseda University Theatre Museum, which also owns an impression of this print (acc. no. 006-4696). Nakamura Fukusuke I was the name held from the third lunar month of 1839 to the sixth lunar month of 1860 by the actor Nakamura Shikan IV.
Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=AC+2005.450 |
