Utagawa Kunisada/Toyokuni III (1786-1865) A Mirror of Fashionable Reflections (Imayo Oshie Kagami): Nakamura Fukusuke I as Tattooed Danshichi, 1859. Oban.
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A tremendous and active portrait of the tattooed Danshichi Kurobei. The tragic anti-hero is pouring a bucket of water over himself to wash out the blood from his victim, Giheiji. This design is regarded as the best of the series. Danshichi is a real Edo everyman… a fishmonger, Danshichi is the archetype of the Osaka otokodate. The role was based on a real man, a fishmonger in the city of Sakai, who killed somebody in the middle of winter in 1697. The dead body was hidden in the snow and discovered in Spring, after the melting of the snow. This event was dramatised for the first time in 1698 by the Kamigata star, Kataoka Nizaemon I, who played the leading role of Danshichi. Then, half a century later, in 1745, Danshichi became the hero of Natsu Matsuri Naniwa Kagami. It contains the most famous and spectacular murder scene (the aftermath of which is pictured here in this print) in kabuki - that is, the murder of Mikawaya Giheiji by his son-in-law Danshichi.
In the numerous plays and dances, Danshichi remains the desperate man: here is a character who haplessly tries to do the right thing but for whom the fates, the authorities, other people, his rivals, his employers and his family are continually frustrating him. He is an emblem of frustration and of plans gone wrong. This is why he is such an Edo everyman. His travails are those of the desperate urban dweller, scrabbling for money to pay the rent, desperate to find love, family and stability in a rat-race city where there is not enough of anything to go round.
The unusual framing device is a mirror. Danshichi… or Nakamura Fukusuke I, the actor who is playing the role, is therefore reflected in the surface of the mirror. This device works for straightforward head and shoulders portraits, but in this case, it is hard to imagine the wet dressing room backstage after the actor tried out this pose! The play - and there were many on this theme - Zoho Natsumatsuri Otoko Kagami, portrays the hapless young man; and this scene of the blood washing is famous. Note the tattoo (certainly a slip-on, painted silk sleeve), that Fukusuke/Danshichi is wearing. Kunisada deftly renders the translucent water flowing in rivulets and the tattoo shining through.
A very fine design - the best in the series. Unbacked, colour and impression are very good, condition excellent, the usual trimming to margins.
Publisher: Fujiokaya Keijiro.
25cm x 35cm.
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