Background
The dramatization of Asagao (Morning Glory, 朝顔) has rather complicated history. The play Shôutsushi asagao banashi (Recreating the true story of morning glory: 生写朝顔話) was one of a number of dramatizations of this very popular love story. An unproduced puppet play was written between 1804 and 1806 by Yamada no Kagashi (posthumous name of Chikamatsu Tokusô, 1751-1810) after a kodan (講談 oral storytelling) by Shiba Shisô called Asagao (朝顔). Four or five years later, an illustrated book titled Asagao nikki (朝顔日記) was published. Next, in 1812, a play called Shôutsushi asagao nikki (Recreating the true diary of morning glory: 生写朝顔日記) was staged in Osaka, written by Dekishima Sensuke (i.e., not the play authored by Chikamatsu Tokusô), but it was a failure. In 1814 a revised version (8 acts and 12 scenes) of Tokusô's drama was staged at the Kado no Shibai in Osaka. That same play was adapted for the puppet stage and presented on the grounds of the Inari Shrine in Osaka; it was attributed (posthumously) to Tokusô. The play was again re-staged at the Takemoto puppet theater, Osaka in 1/1832. Another playwright, Suishô Enshûjin, made a final revision, and it is this version that was also presented in kabuki. The play received a rewrite in 1850 by Nishizawa Ippô (1802-1852) as an adaptation of the puppet play, and it is this version that is used today.
The tale features the love between Miyagi Asojirô (宮木阿曽次郎) and Akizuki musume Miyuki (秋月娘深雪), daughter of a wealthy samurai, who first meet while enjoying an outing in pleasure boats on the Uji River. They are immediately smitten with one another and exchange vows, but afterwards a misunderstanding leads Miyuki to believe that her father will force her to marry someone else. Unknown to her, the "stranger" happens to be Asojirô, whose name was changed to Komazawa Jirôzaemon after his recent adoption into a samurai family. To keep her pledge to Asojirô, she runs away and assumes the name Asagao ("Morning Glory"), a reminder of the poem Asojirô had written for her at their first meeting). After months pass, Miyuki loses her sight from endless grieving, barely supporting herself by playing the koto (stringed instrument, resembling a horizontal harp: 琴). One day she encounters her lover by chance, who sees that she is now destitute and blind from tears and grief. Suddenly he is called away by his lord and Miyuki despairs, running after him in a fierce storm. Unable to cross the river, she is ready to throw herself into the raging water, but is stopped by a retainer of her father. Miyuki ultimately regains her sight after curing her blindness with a drug left for her by Asojirô.
Design
Asojirô stands before a bridge spanning the Uji river as fireflies flit about him under a crepuscular sky. He holds a paper lantern (andon) inscribed with characters reading Tsûen, probably that of a local teahouse. The landscape is inspired by Maruyama-Shijô painting styles.
The poem was composed by the actor Rikan, who appears to be comparing his theatrical skills with the wonders of nature: Futsutsu kana / ware hazukashiki / hotaru kana (Fireflies! / I am ashamed / Like an ignorant rustic!).
A hand-stamped seal of the celebrated block-cutter Kasuke at the lower left reads, in part, surimono hangishi ("surimono woodblock master"). This is an early deluxe edition (sometimes called "surimono-style') with the poem and block cutter seal. Variants exist with a more darkly printed landscape. A later commercial edition was issued by the publishers Honsei/Kawaji in a joint production; these have the publishers' seal, omit the poem, and display a few color block differences from the earlier editions.
References: IKBYS-II: no. 285; IKB-I, no. 3-62; DSH, p. 60; NKE, p. 603
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