Background
The series Toyokuni kigô kijutsu kurabe (A comparison of magic scenes by Toyokuni, 豊国揮毫奇術競) features kabuki actors "compared" to figures, both good or evil, who possess supernatural powers. The motifs derive from popular legends, kabuki plays, or adventure novels that were popular in the mid-19th century. Each print was published on thick paper with expensive pigments and special printing features like embossing (karazuri, 空摺), mica printing (kirazuri, 雲母摺), burnishing (shômen-zuri, 正面摺), and lacquer-like glue printing (nikawa-zuri, 膠摺).
There are several versions of the tale, first dramatized by Chikamatsu Monzaemon's Hakata Kojorô nami makura (Hakata Kojorô and love at sea, 博多小女郎浪枕), which was staged for the puppets at the Takemotoza in 11/ 1718. The related kabuki tales included Yamato Kotoba Suikoden (A Japanese reading of the tales of the water margin, 和訓水滸傳) in 7/1776 at the Kado no Shibai, Osaka; Keisei Hakata Ori (A courtesan and Hakata silk weave, けいせい博多織) in 1/1778 at the Minamigawa no Shibai, Kyoto; Hakata Kojorô Nami Makura (博多小女郎浪枕) in 1837; and Koi Minato Hakata no Hitofushi (戀湊博多諷) in 8/1840 at the Nakamura-za, Edo.
Design
The story of "Kezori" is based on a real incident in Osaka in 10/1718 involving a gang of seven smugglers who were caught in Nagasaki, tortured (including cutting off their noses), put in the stocks for three days, and and sent into exile. Hakata Kojorô (博多小女郎), a courtesan of the Okudaya brothel in the Hakata Yanagimachi quarter, is the lover of Komatsuya Sôshichi (小松屋宗七), a young merchant from Kyôto. In Act I, while traveling as a passenger on a ship engaged in clandestine smuggling (of which Sôshichi is unaware), Kezori Kuemon (毛剃九右衛門), a flamboyant smuggler, and a love rival, invites Sôshichi to join his gang. When he refuses, Sôshichi gets tossed into the sea. He barely survives, but loses the money he had saved to ransom Kojorô. In one version of the tale, Kezori becomes a patron of Kojorô whom he has promised to help whenever she is in need. Kezori sees that Kojorô loves and wants to help Sôshichi, and so Kezori forgives Sôshichi for his earlier refusal, agreeing now to help him by ransoming Kojorô, but on the condition that Sôshichi becomes a member of his gang. For the sake of being with Kojorô, Sôshichi abandons his principles and reluctantly agrees. Eventually, he amasses enough wealth from smuggling to become "a person of interest" in the eyes of the authorities, who suspect ill-gotten gains. Knowing this, the lovers attempt to escape, leaving in separate palanquins, but Sôshichi is surrounded by police and takes his own life. When Kojorô is also captured, she asks to be executed so that she can join Sôshichi in the afterlife, but the police refuse. Not guilty of any crime, she is pardoned by imperial decree upon the emperor's accession to the throne.
In one of the more impressive images in the series, Onoe Kikujirô II is shown as the ghost of the courtesan Kojorô emerging from the waves and spray painted on a tsuitate (single-panel standing screen, 衝立).
Kunisada's series on magic scenes (1861-1864) is highly regarded and much sought after. It is particularly notable for the exceptional deluxe color printings of its 36 designs on thick paper. Our impression is early and has stunningly well-preserved colors. A later printing reduces the number of colors in the series cartouche from three (red, white, green) to one (red).
References
- See our Kunisada I Biography.
- Also see https://viewingjapaneseprints.net/texts/ukiyoe/kunisada.html.
- A web page illustrating all 36 designs from the series can be found at http://www.kunisada.de/Kunisada-series60ths/series105/series105-1.htm
- Arendie and Henk Herwig, Heroes of the Kabuki Stage: An Introduction the kabuki with retellings of famous plays illustrated by woodblock prints. Amsterdam: Hotei Publishing, pp. 115-119.
- Leiter, Samuel, New Kabuki Encyclopedia: A Revised Adaptation of Kabuki Jiten. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1997, p. 144.
- Tokyo Metropolitan Library, No. 5714-C089-10.
- Waseda University Tsubouchi Memorial Theater Museum, no. 401-0121.
There are many publications on the works of Kunisada. A good introduction in English is by Sebastian Izzard (with essays by J. Thomas Rimer and John Carpenter): Kunisada's World. New York: Japan Society in collaboration with Ukiyo-e Society of America, 1993.
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