Utagawa Kunihiro (歌川国広) (artist )
Ichikawa Ebijūrō I (市川鰕十郎) as Matsunami Sanpei (松並三平) on the right, Arashi Koroku IV (嵐小六) as the waiting maid Saeda (御女中早枝) in the center, and Nakamura Utaemon III (中村歌右衛門) as Ohashi Sohei (大橋曽平) on the left
07/1823
30 in x 14.5 in (Overall dimensions) Japanese woodblock print
Signed: Kunihiro ga (国廣画)
Publishers - in center: Tenmaya Kihei
(Marks 536 - seal 26-155)
- on right and left: Honya Seishichi
(Marks 123 - seals 25-527 and 13-004)
Hankyu Culture Foundation - right panel
Hankyu Culture Foundation - center panel
Hankyu Culture Foundation - left panel
Tokyo Fuji Art Museum - the center and left panels only This triptych commemorates a performance of Koi no Michinoku Onna Tozoku (恋陸奥媚賊) at the Kado Theater in the seventh month of 1823.
****
Reference: Ikeda Bunko, Kamigata Yakusha-e Shusei (Collected Kamigata Actor Prints) Volume 2, Ikeda Bunko Library, Osaka 1997, no. 30. Illustrated in color on p. 18.
****
Osaka Prints wrote of this play: "The plot of the play Koi no michinoku onna tozoku (恋陸奥遠媚賊) is unknown to us. The title puns on Ariwara no Narihira's Azuma kudari (lit., "going down to the east": 東下り) when he leaves Kyoto and journeys to the Eastern provinces, as told in episode 9 of the Ise monogatari (Tales of Ise: 伊勢物語)."
****
Also illustrated in color in 原色浮世絵大百科事典 (Genshoku Ukiyoe Daihyakka Jiten), vol. 9, p. 123, #284.
Ichikawa Ebijūrō I (初代市川鰕十郎 9/1815 to 7/1827) (actor)
Arashi Koroku IV (四代目嵐小六: from 11/1817 to 11/1826) (actor)
Nakamura Utaemon III (三代目中村歌右衛門) (actor)
actor prints (yakusha-e - 役者絵) (genre)
Tenmaya Kihei (天満屋喜兵衛) (publisher)
Honya Seishichi (本屋清七) (publisher)
Kyōto-Osaka prints (kamigata-e - 上方絵) (genre)
Ariwara Narihira (在原 業平: from 825 to 880) (author)