Ukiyo-e Prints

浮世絵版画

TOYOKAWA YOSHIKUNI

豊川芳国

とよかわよしくに

fl. 1803-40?

Actor: Arashi Kichisaburō

嵐橘三郎

あらしきつさぶろう

Role: The attendant Shitei (仕丁 or してい) Wadasaku (和田 or わださく)

仕丁和田作

Play: Hanakurabe Ise Monogatari

競伊勢物語

(also pronounced Hadekurabe Ise Monogatari)

* A description of this play can be found in New Kabuki Encyclopedia: A Revised Adaptation of kabuki jiten, compiled by Samuel L. Leiter, 1997, pp. 140-141.

However, there is no explanation of the scene shown in this print nor is there a mention of any character named Wadasaku.

Size: 15 1/4" x 10"

Date: 1824, 8th Month

Bunsei 7

文政7年

Signature: Yoshikuni ga

落款: 芳国画

Publisher: Tenki

天喜

てんき

Illustrated: Kamigata yakusha-e shūsei: Vol. 1, page 120, entry #360

"Collection of Kamigata Actor Prints"

上方役者絵集成 

かみがた.やくしゃえ.しゅうせい

Illustrated on-line at Waseda University

(Their example has been trimmed at the bottom and is not in as good condition as the one shown here.)

SOLD!

For a better understanding of the flame floating in the air go to our entry on hitodama on our Hil thru I index/glossary page.

There is a similar print of this same character by Hasegawa Sadanobu (長谷川貞信 or はせがわ.さだのぶ) from ca. 1848-54. However, this one is chuban size.

In the Sadanobu print there is no hole in the wall of the building behind Wadasaku, but the unsheathing of the sword before the spectral flame is the same.

Yoshikuni was as famous as a poet as he was an artist.  According to Roger Keyes he "...was active as a print designer between 1813 and 1830... He may have been the son of Hakuensai Baikō, the late eighteenth century Osaka poet who was the proprietor of the publishing firm Shioya Saburobei. Yoshikuni may have begun his career in 1800 with a poetry anthology, and could have designed two or three prints that appeared with the signature Jukō in 1813.  Although his career as a print designer ended around 1832, he seems to have continued his activity as a poet, leading the Jukōsha poetry group whose members designed actor prints."

Quoted from: The Theatrical World of Osaka Prints, by Roger Keyes and Keiko Mizushima, published by the Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1973, p. 252.

In a section called 'The Rise of New Artists' Dean Schwaab noted that shortly after 1810 several significant artist all appeared on the scene in Osaka at about the same time. Yoshikuni (i.e., Jukō/Ashimaro) was among them. Jukōdō Yoshikuni published one print under the name Jukō in 1813. "He then moved to the Ashikuni school under the name Ashimaro. Only two compositions under this name are recorded..." Then he changed his name to Yoshikuni. In mid-1817 he collaborated on prints with Ashiyuki and Ashihisa. Later he worked with several other artists including Shibakuni, Ashiyuki, Kunihiro, Tamikuni, Hikokuni and Hokushū. From 1820 to 1832 he produced approximately 120 compositions. 61 of these represented Utaemon III.

Source and quotes from: Osaka Prints, by Dean J. Schwaab, published by Rizzoli, 1989, pp. 22 & 25-27.