Background
The Edo/Tokyo artist Toyohara Chikanobu (豊原周延 1838–1912; also Yôshû Chikanobu 楊洲周延 and real name Hashimoto Naoyoshi 橋本直義) had training in Kanô-school painting, but he preferred ukiyo-e. He began his studies with a disciple of Keisai Eisen (渓斎英泉 1790-1848). He then joined the studio of Ichiyûsai Kuniyoshi (歌川國芳 1798-1861) around 1852, using the name Yoshitsuru. After Kuniyoshi's death, he studied with Utagawa Kunisada (歌川國貞 1786-1865), sometimes signing as Yôshû (楊洲), and finally with Toyohara Kunichika (豊原國周 1835-1900), calling himself Isshunsai Chikanobu and focusing on actor portraiture. Once established, Chikanobu created print designs with many themes, foremost among them bijinga (美人画 pictures of beautiful women) and sensô-e (戦争絵 pictures of war or warrior prints), including many triptychs depicting events from the aforementioned Boshin War as well as the Satsuma Rebellion (Seinan Sensô: 西南戦争) in 1877. Other subjects included historical scenes, kabuki, famous places (meisho 名所絵), portrayals of the emperor, and pastimes of women. As a late master of bijinga, he produced numerous images and series of beauties in single sheets, diptychs, and triptychs.
For more about Toyohara Chikanobu, see Chikanobu Biography.
Design
Chikanobu's triptych is related to Suma no miyako Genpei tsutsuji (Azaleas of the Minamoto and Taira clans in the capital at Suma: 須磨都源平躑躅), which premiered as a ningyô jôruri (puppet play: 淨瑠璃) at the Takemoto Theater, Osaka in 1730. Kabuki staged its first version in 1763. The dramatization was based on the Heike monogatari (Tale of the Heike clan: 平家物語) and Genpei seisuiki (Story of the rise and fall of the Heike and Genji during the Genpei wars: 源平盛衰記) — chronicles about the pivotal struggle (1156-1185) between the Minamoto (Genji) and Taira (Heike) clans ending at the battle of Dannoura in western Honshû. The play serves as a prelude to the most famous individual confrontation in samurai legend — the slaying at Ichinotani of the fifteen-year-old Atsumori, son of a Taira general, by the Minamoto general Kumagai no Jirô Naozane (熊谷次郎直実 1141-1208), serving Minamoto no Yoshitsune (1159-89). In the play, Kumagai owes a debt of gratitude to Atsumori's mother, for she had saved Kumagai and his wife from execution 17 years earlier. Having no other way to honor his debt, Kumagai substitutes and sacrifices his own son for Atsumori. This shocking turn of events only delays the inevitable, however, and finally Kumagai must slay Atsumori. Distraught at the loss of his son and his failure to save Atsumori, Kumagai renounces his allegiance to the Minamoto and takes the vows of a Buddhist monk.
In the present scene, the elegantly adorned beauty is not named, but is, presumably, Princess Tamaori (Tamaori-hime 玉依姫). She watches nervously the deadly encounter between Kumagai and Atsumori. In one version of the tale, Tamaori is engaged to Taira Atsumori. She is killed at Ichinotani when she refuses to marry Hirayama Mushadokoro Sueshige, a Genji warrior. In a rage, Hirayama stabs and mortally wounds Tamaori. She lives just long enough to witness the beheading of her beloved Atsumori.
Our impression is full image size with margins at the top and on the left sides (the margins on 1R and 2R are covered in the image above by adjacent sheets). The Waseda University Tsubouchi Memorial Theater Museum has only the center and right sheets in its collection (011-0111 and 011-0112).
References:
- Bruce Coats: Chikanobu: Modernity and nostalgia in Japanese Prints. Leiden: Hotei Publishing, 2006 (N.B., plate no. 204).
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