• Nakamura Shikan II (中村芝翫) as Tawara Tota Hidesato (俵藤太郎秀郷) in the play <i>Otokonariken Onna Masakado</i> [男哉婦将門] from the series <i>Fashionable Mirror Covers</i> (流行鏡之覆)
Nakamura Shikan II (中村芝翫) as Tawara Tota Hidesato (俵藤太郎秀郷) in the play <i>Otokonariken Onna Masakado</i> [男哉婦将門] from the series <i>Fashionable Mirror Covers</i> (流行鏡之覆)
Nakamura Shikan II (中村芝翫) as Tawara Tota Hidesato (俵藤太郎秀郷) in the play <i>Otokonariken Onna Masakado</i> [男哉婦将門] from the series <i>Fashionable Mirror Covers</i> (流行鏡之覆)
Nakamura Shikan II (中村芝翫) as Tawara Tota Hidesato (俵藤太郎秀郷) in the play <i>Otokonariken Onna Masakado</i> [男哉婦将門] from the series <i>Fashionable Mirror Covers</i> (流行鏡之覆)
Nakamura Shikan II (中村芝翫) as Tawara Tota Hidesato (俵藤太郎秀郷) in the play <i>Otokonariken Onna Masakado</i> [男哉婦将門] from the series <i>Fashionable Mirror Covers</i> (流行鏡之覆)
Nakamura Shikan II (中村芝翫) as Tawara Tota Hidesato (俵藤太郎秀郷) in the play <i>Otokonariken Onna Masakado</i> [男哉婦将門] from the series <i>Fashionable Mirror Covers</i> (流行鏡之覆)
Nakamura Shikan II (中村芝翫) as Tawara Tota Hidesato (俵藤太郎秀郷) in the play <i>Otokonariken Onna Masakado</i> [男哉婦将門] from the series <i>Fashionable Mirror Covers</i> (流行鏡之覆)

Shunbaisai Hokuei (春梅斎北英) (artist )

Nakamura Shikan II (中村芝翫) as Tawara Tota Hidesato (俵藤太郎秀郷) in the play Otokonariken Onna Masakado [男哉婦将門] from the series Fashionable Mirror Covers (流行鏡之覆)

Print


10/1834
10.375 in x 14.875 in (Overall dimensions) Japanese color woodblock print
Signed: Shunkōsai Hokuei ga
春江斎北英画
Publisher: Tenmaya Kihei
(Marks 536 seal: 24-035)
Waseda University
Musée des Beaux-Arts de Rennes - posted at commons.wikimedia
Lyon Collection - another Hokuei showing Shikan II in this role
Lyon Collection - Gakutei surimono of Tawara
Lyon Collection - Kuniyoshi - notice the giant centipede in the upper left inset
Hankyu Culture Foundation The riot of color that makes up Tawara's garments serve two purposes: one is decorative and terribly Japanese in style and the other is to set off dramatically, and hence draw attention to, the face of Shikan II. If you click on the image and enlarge it you will see that this warriors clothing is populated with fantastic birds, possibly ho-o or phoenixes flying over a geometrically patterned gray ground. Trailing around the tail and feet of these birds are long strips of beautifully designed fabrics. The hilt of his sword, parts of his armored gloves and his breastplate are made up of samegawa or ray skin, a pebble material with small raised white bumps. In the West many people refer to this as sharkskin, but it isn't. It is also referred to as shagreen in the West.

The looped deep blue tassel with is used to tie pieces of his armor together is a particularly nice touch. Often the tassel (age-maki - 総角) appear to decorate the front of the armor protecting the upper torso. They normally have elaborate knots above the tassel, but not here.

****

This print commemorates a performance of Otokonarikeri Onna Masakadoat the Kado Theater in the 10th month of 1834.

****

Illustrated:

1) in color in Ukiyo-e Masterpieces in European Collections: Victorian and Albert Museum II, Kodansha, 1989, #157.

2) in color in in Ikeda Bunko, Kamigata yakusha-e shūsei (Collected Kamigata Actor Prints), vol. 2, Ikeda Bunko Library, Osaka, 1998, no. 338.

****

Tawara Tota Hidesato was one of the great mythic heroes of Japan. He slew the giant centipede that was plaguing an area near Lake Biwa. There are three other prints in the Lyon Collection featuring this hero. See the links above.

****

What happened when we took another close look

The beauty and power of this print has always been an attraction for this viewer. While beauty may only be in the eye of the beholder, there are plenty of fans of Japanese Osaka prints that would agree with this writer. And yet, sometimes, the overall effect blinds us to the defects found in the minutiae. A new and closer examination of the face, the mouth in particular, revealed a rather strange bit of carving. The eyes, the right ear drawn in a perfunctory manner, the eyebrows, the hair, the nose, the nostril and the chin all seem quite normal, but the mouth is another case. Look closely at an enlargement of the mouth and you will see what appears to be a physiognomic impossibility. Are there two sets of upper teeth? Or, the the lower set represent a lower set is the lower set its placement seem so odd that it seems a bit inexplicable.

This carving of the mouth raises more questions than can be answered here. Was this a slipshod issue of production? Probably not, mainly because it is so precisely carved. Did the printer feel they were up against a deadline and that all in all no one would ever really notice? Who knows? But what we do know is that this unusual feature is that it is most definitely there. It shows up clearly in the other copies we have linked to at the Hankyu Cultural Foundation, Waseda University and the the one in Rennes in France.

We have added a detailed enlargement to this anomaly which you can see right below the full image on this page.
Tenmaya Kihei (天満屋喜兵衛) (publisher)
actor prints (yakusha-e - 役者絵) (genre)
Kyōto-Osaka prints (kamigata-e - 上方絵) (genre)
Nakamura Shikan II (二代目中村芝翫: 11/1825 - 12/1835) (actor)