Toyohara Kunichika (1835-1900) One Hundred Roles of Baiko (Baiko Hyakushu no Uchi): Onoe Kikugoro V as Oiwa, 1893. Oban.
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This powerful design is from Kunichika’s series One Hundred Roles of Baiko. Kunichika and the kabuki star, Baiko, also known as Onoe Kikugoro V, were close friends and intimates. This ambitious series, printed on fine paper and using extensive blind embossing and mica powder was commissioned by Fukuda Kumajiro in 1893. The bulk of each print portrays the actor Onoe Kikugoro V, the upper register shows a different actor in the supporting role.
In this print, Kunichika shows Baiko as the tragic woman Oiwa. The scene here is from one of the great kabuki dramas, Tokaido Yotsuya Kaidan. The play is a terribly cruel account of vicious domestic violence. This print is unusual in not showing the disfigurement of the main character, Oiwa, as is usual in depictions of the story, which is as follows: Iemon and Oiwa are married but Iemon is unsatisfied with Oiwa and their baby. Another woman, Oume, is in love with Iemon, who desires her wealth and would like to marry instead. To get Oiwa out of the picture, Oume (or Iemon depending on the version) sends a poisonous cream to Oiwa, which disfigures half of her face and makes her hair fall out. Iemon decides to leave Oiwa and forces a masseur named Takuetsu to rape her so that he has a legal reason to divorce Oiwa and marry Oume. Oiwa tries to fend Takuetsu off with a sword and accidentally punctures her own throat and dies, cursing Iemon’s name. Iemon dumps his wife’s body in the river and the death is deemed a suicide. The horribly disfigured Oiwa returns to haunt Iemon and his new bride, Oume. In Act V, Scene 2 Jonen, the master of Snake Mountain Hermitage, has given sanctuary to Iemon who is on the verge of madness. Jonen and his followers pray for Iemon with a spectacular lack of success. First Oiwa kills Iemon’s companion, Chobe, and then both of the natural parents of Iemon, Okuma and Genshirô. In despair, Iemon flees the hermitage into a driving snowstorm. He literally runs into the arms of his living nemesis, Yomoshichi, who cuts him down.
Kunichika pictures a famous scene in which, Oiwa, already disfigured is abused by Iemon, stripping her and the baby of their outer kimonos and grabbing the mosquito net to pawn, in order to try and force her to leave him. In the main picture we see Baiko as Oiwa holding on to the mosquito net; whilst in the upper cartouche, Kamiya Iemon (played by Nakamura Shikan) is taking it away to a pawnshop to get money for alcohol.
This series is one of Kunichika’s best portrait series. The quality of printing is exceptional; the colours rich and deep, and there is burnishing, embossing and a scattering of mica to enliven the surface. The condition and the impression are perfect, as if from the day it was printed. The paper has a crease on the left, semingly caused in the print process.
Signed Toyohara Kunichika hitsu.
Published by: Fukada Kumajiro.
38 x 26 cm.
