fan crest   title
Home •  Recent Update •  Sales Gallery •  Archives
Articles •  Varia •  Glossary •  Biographies •  Bibliography
Search •  Video •  Contact Us •  Conditions of Sale •  Links
 

Hokuei (北英)

Description:
(1R) Nakamura Karoku I (中村歌六) as Osen (おせん) and Jitsukawa Gakujûrô I (実川額十郎) as Tsuji Yôsuke (辻要助); (2R) Arashi Rikan II (嵐璃寛) Yoshikawa Kagetô (吉川景任); (3R) Iwai Shijaku I (岩井紫若) Imouto Shiori (妹しおり); (4R) Kataoka Ichizô I (片岡市蔵) as Asogatake Tarakubô (= Amako Hidemaru) (阿曽ヶ嶽多楽坊実は尼子秀丸); (5R = above 3R) Bandô Jutarô I (坂東寿太郎) as Kiritarô (きり太郎) in Keisei hanabusa zôshi (Courtesan: A storybook blossom: けいせい英草紙)
Th: Naka Theater, Osaka
Signature:
Shunbaisai Hokuei ga (春梅齋北英画)
Seals:
No artist seal
Carver: Kumazô (熊造刀)
Printer: suri Hide (スリ秀)
Publisher:
Tenki (Osaka Shinsaibashi Hachimansuji Tenki: 大坂心齋橋八幡筋
Date:
1/1835
Format:
(H x W)
Ôban nishiki-e pentaptych
Bottom 36.9 x 100.2 cm; Top 36.5 x 23.7cm
Impression:
Excellent
Condition:
Very good color, unbacked; at least one filled worm hole per sheet (near edges); thin streak in sky of 1R and part of bottom edge of R4 reinforced on verso. 
Price (USD/¥):
$1.975 / Contact us to pay in yen (¥)

Order/Inquiry (Ref #HKE104)

Comments:
Background

Keisei hanabusa zôshi (Courtesan: A storybook blossom: けいせい英草紙 also given as けいせい英双紙) has a plot that is unknown to us. This particular production was featured as a drama for the New Year in 1835.

Design

Printmakers were restrained by the shogunate in their choice of print formats, as anything larger than a ôban sheet was likely to be considered ostentatious and inappropriate to their low societal status. As a result, publishers could not, with few exceptions, safely publish works on double ôban (ôbaibon) or larger sheets for the commercial market (some privately exchanged surimono did reach such sizes). Compositions took the form of single sheets and polyptychs in ôban and smaller sizes. Still, there was some room to maneuver. As our pentaptych shows, on at least one occasion Hokuei deployed a highly unusual configuration by placing one sheet above the 3R panel. The asymmetry boldly distinguishes Hokuei's composition from innumerable all-in-a-row polyptychs common in ukiyo-e.

This scene is emblematic of Kabuki's tachimawari (lit., "standing and going around," i.e., choreographed fight scenes: 立回り). Kiritarô (5R) appears as a necromancer standing in a cloud with his hands positioned in the manner for casting spells.

The far left sheet, unlike the remaining four, has a yellow and green ground. This is the case for nearly all the impressions we have seen of this design over the years. In ukiyo-e polyptychs, differences in colorations among the sheets is a rather frequent condition.

This pentaptych is rarely available for acquisition when complete and with very good colors, as in our example.

References: IKBYS-II, no. 344; WAS-IV, no. 525; KNP-VI, vol. 6, p. 297; IKB-I, no. p. 99, no. 2-437