Jukodo Yoshikuni (active 1813 - 1831) Actor Nakamura Utaemon III as the Servant Yasuke, actually Tashiro Yasubei, 1822. Oban.
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This rare print by the artist Yoshikuni, displays the vigorous (sometimes called "strong hand") style of the Osaka School of the period. Yoshikuni was a hugely important figure, being not only an artist and printmaker but a poet in his own right and an important figurehead in the literary and poetic coteries that were a feature of the cultural scene in Osaka in the first half of the nineteenth century.
The high point of Yoshikuni’s career was the period 1820-22, the period of this print and coinciding with the return to Osaka of Nakamura Utaemon III. His prints from this period are known to be exceptional and to show a particularly “strong hand’. This print shows a scene from a little known play about which even less is known… the script being lost. The Lyon Collection has this to say:
The play and production proved to be a popular subject for a number of artists. Although the plot for Oishizuri sakura tanzaku (Oishi’s stone rubbing, a poem card, and flowering cherry) remains unknown, some role names (such as the virtuous wives Oishi and Osono, or Okaru's brother, Teraoka Heiemon) inscribed on prints by several artists for this production suggest that the story line was adapted from the most famous of all revenge plays, Kanadehon chûshingura (Copybook of the Treasury of Loyal Retainers). Prints for this performance further identify Utaemon's role of the wine-shop merchant as Amakawaya Igo (later called Yatô Yomoshichi). Utaemon also performed as Tashirô Yasubei (a.k.a. the servant Yasuke).
This is a quite fantastic Yoshikuni. The servant (Genin) Yasuke, actually Tashiro Yasubei, stands in front of a stone shrine; the paper that he unfurls is printed in such a way as to suggest the rubbing of the title? Colour, condition and impression are all fine. The print has never been backed and is full size. Professionally repaired wormhole to left edge.
Publisher: Ariwarado Chubei.
Publisher: Toshikuraya Shinbei (Toshin).
39 x 27 cm.
