Konishi Hirosada (ca 1810 - 1864) Kataoka Gado II as Chichibu Shoji Shigetada in Keisei Soga haru no fujigane, 1853. Deluxe Chuban.
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A beautiful and jewel-like Hirosada with fine deluxe additions of powdered metals, fine gauffrage and burnishing. The plot of this play is lost, but it is would have been one of the many dramas concocted from the Soga Monogatari… a collection of tales around the revenge plays of the tragic Soga brothers. The character of Shigetada does crop up in other plays, for instance in Dan no Ura Kabuto Gunki, where Akoya is the courtesan lover of Kagekiyo who is on the run and in hiding. She is hauled before the court and threatened with torture to reveal the whereabouts of her lover. When she refuses, three instruments of torture are brought to the stage yet she still refuses. Next three musical instruments are brought on and the official Shigetada demands that she plays them. She performs three songs about her love of Kagekiyo so beautifully that Shigetada is convinced that someone who sings so movingly could not also be a liar. The play ends with him confronting the evil torturer Munetsura.
A very fine print in truly outstanding condition… colour and impression are also very fine. A jewel-like and brilliant Osaka print. There is very deep embossing to the hexagonal patterned robes. The design is embellished with bronze powders, metallics and mica.
25.5 x 19 cm.
