JAPANESE PRINTS
A MILLION QUESTIONS
TWO MILLION MYSTERIES
Ukiyo-e Prints浮世絵版画 |
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formerly Port Townsend, Washington now Kansas City, Missouri |
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UTAGAWA KUNISADA |
| 歌川国貞 |
| 1786-1865 |
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Title: Tohachi go-mon jitsuwa naosuke gonbe Matsumoto Kōshirō kyu sue dokoro |
| Actor: Matsumoto Kōshirō V (1764-1838) |
| (五世)松本幸四郎 |
| Role: Tohachi Go-mon (but actually Naosuke Gonbe) |
| Play: Tokaidō Yotsuya Kaidan |
| 東海道 四谷怪談 |
| Performance: Nakamura Theater from July 27, 1825 |
| Date: 1825, 7th Month |
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Bunsei 8 |
| 文政8 |
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Publisher: Kiyomizu (or Shimizu - 清水) |
| Signed: Gototei Kunisada ga |
| 署名: 五渡亭国貞画 |
| Print Size: 14" x 9 3/8" |
| Mat Size: 20" x 16" |
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Illustrated: Another copy of this print is shown on line at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts web site. |
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$240.00 NO LONGER AVAILABLE! |
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Kōshirō V was also known as "High Nose" because of his most noticeable facial feature. |
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Below is a clearer image of the signature, publisher's seal and kiwame. (Kiwame means approved.)
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MOXA TREATMENT? 灸治? |
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No wonder Emma-O, the king of the underworld, looks so unhappy. He is about to suffer through moxibustion therapy. |
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MOXA
I don't know about you, but I am terribly frustrated when looking up a term and I get hit with more terms I have to look up. It isn't that I am stupid, but specialties have their own particular jargons --- their argots. For example, at a site called Dictionary.com they used the terms mogusa, escharotic, yomigi, Artemisia Chinensis, amadou and A. moxa when defining moxa. Of course, this may explain why I didn't get a perfect score on the vocabulary part of my high school S.A.T. test. However, on the other hand it gives me an opportunity to start a few more research projects and I love that stuff. (By the way, I would do a lot better today than I did when I was 18. If only I knew then....sigh...and there had been an Internet...sigh!)
Mogusa: The American Heritage Dictionary tells us that this word comes from a combination of the verb moeru (to burn) plus kusa (an herb). Although they don't spell it out it turns out that mogusa, pronounced mogsa, was corrupted in translation to moxa. |
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Above is an detail from a print by Yoshitoshi in which a woman is undergoing moxa treatment. |
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To see another print featuring Matsumoto Kōshirō V click on the image below. That example is by Kunisada's teacher Toyokuni I.
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THE FINEST KABUKI SITE ON THE INTERNET!
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TO SEE A FULL BIOGRAPHY AND LINKS TO NUMEROUS PAGES WITH OTHER IMAGES OF MATSUMOTO KŌSHIRŌ V GO TO
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