Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1797-1861) Ichikawa Danjuro VIII as Narukami Shonin, 1851. Oban.
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This is a tremendously good and rare print. It shows the very great kabuki actor Ichikawa Danjuro VIII as the evil priest, Narukami Shonin. Narukami lived in an hermitage near a waterfall in which he had imprisoned the dragon god. The land was suffering from drought and so the Emperor sent a beautiful Princess to break the curse and restore the rainfall. When she arrived at the monastery she met Narukami’s servants, Hakuunbo and Kokuunbo, who immediately fell under her spell.
She told them she had come to pray for her late husband and to wash one of his garments since there was no water in the Capital. The acolytes and Narukami listen entranced as she goes into intimate and sensuous detail about how she met her husband and how they made love. Narukami feels faint from listening to the story and falls off the veranda of his room. Princess Taema revives him by transferring water from her lips to his. She seduces Narukami when they are alone and he reveals that the dragon god remains imprisoned as long as the sacred rope across the waterfall is intact. When Narukami falls into a drunken stupor, Princess Taema creeps away and cuts the rope. She escapes as thunder and lightning fill the sky and rain pours down. When Narukami revives, his anger at being tricked transforms him into a thunder god and we see him in a final pose wearing a costume covered in orange-red flames and glaring in the direction his seductress has fled.
Kuniyoshi shows the enraged Narukami, gripping a vertical post with emotion, his sensual desire turned to rage, his robes transformed into angry flames as the rain pours down in the background. This is one of the great Kuniyoshi designs of the period and set the standard for poses and depictions of this very great play. Interestingly, the design reappears in 1854, this time in the play Kumo no uwasa onna Narukami, where the role of Narukami is cast as a woman, a Buddhist nun in fact, and the seducer is a male sent to break the spell. The design can be seen at the Kuniyoshi Project.
The print is very rare which is odd given the quality of the design. There is a copy in the British Museum London, and another in the Walters Art Museum, which interestingly doesn’t have the flame pattern on the sleeve.
Colour is very good, impression is fine and overall condition is fine. Oxidation to the flames is excellent. There are some paper reinforcements and professional repairs to the left edge. There is a professional paper restoration to the bottom left corner. A Kuniyoshi masterpiece.
Published by: Kakumotoya Kinjiro.
35.5 x 25.5 cm.
