Kitagawa Utamaro (喜多川歌麿) (artist ca 1753 – 1806)
Act IX: The Treasury of the Loyal Retainers (忠臣蔵 九段目)
ca 1801 – 1802
10.25 in x 15 in (Overall dimensions) Japanese woodblock print
Signed: Utamaro hitsu (哥麿筆)
Publisher: Nishimuraya Yohachi
(Marks 391 seal 01-008)
Metropolitan Museum of Art
Museum für angewandte Kunst, Vienna
Nationaal Museum van Wereldculturen (via Ritsumeikan University) "In this series each inset cartouche shows a scene from one of the eleven acts of he drama Chūshingura (Treasury of the Loyal Retainers), and this is likened in the main part of the design to a genre scene which shares elements in common. They could be considered as a variation of the idea of 'sibling pictures' (e-kyōdai...). All eleven designs are known."
Quoted from: The Passionate Art of Kitagawa Utamaro by Shugō Asano and Timothy Clark, text volume, p. 225.
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"A Woman at Her Toilet Seated before a Mirror, Having Her Hair combed by a Kameyui [sic] (Woman Hairdresser)." {This is the title provided by the Metropolitan Museum of Art to their copy of this print. 'Kameyui' should be 'kamiyui' (髪結い).]
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The curatorial notes translated into English from the Museum für angewandte Kunst in Vienna state: "The small picture shows Konami 小 浪 and behind her mother Tonase 戸 無 瀬. Both want to kill themselves when Konami's engagement to Rikiya 力 弥 is broken due to Honzōs 本 蔵 alleged disloyalty. At this moment Honzō (Konami's father) appears in the disguise of a shakuhachi 尺八 (bamboo flute) playing traveling priest. In the large picture, a courtesan's servant is straightening the hairstyle when a mendicant monk comes by."
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Chūshingura Act IX - the scenes depicted here are when Tonase [戸無瀬] is about to kill Konami [小浪] with the treasure sword of the Kakogawa clan, the plaintive melody of a bamboo shakuhachi flute is heard outside. The player is a travelling komusô priest. Such a sound means that he wants to get some money or food. Then Oishi's voice is heard ordering to stop. Tonase thinks Oishi stopped the priest playing shakuhachi, and she tries to kill Konami again. Oishi herself comes to the room, and she says she has changed her mind. Tonase has managed to save Konami's life. (Kabuki21). The traditional scene is portrayed in the upper left inset of the print. In the main image, a comb rather than a sword is used and the komusō reads from a book.
Nishimuraya Yohachi (西村屋与八) (publisher)
mitate-e (見立て絵) (genre)
Chūshingura (忠臣蔵 - 47 rōnin) (genre)