Toyohara Kunichika (1835-1900) Drug Advertisement Featuring the Actor Ichikawa Danjuro IX (Meiji no kusuri no kōkoku), 1897. Deluxe Oban Triptych.
Click here for a full-size image.
Click here for a detailed enlargement.
Click here for a further detailed enlargement.
This print is a great wonder! The colour and the design are captivating… the subject is fascinating, the detail is entrancing. The print, with its marvellous colour-balance and a sensational sense of ‘tone’, shows the wildly popular kabuki actor, Ichikawa Danjuro IX - a close friend of Kunichika’s - lavishly dressed and holding what looks like a hat box. Behind him is a stage curtain from the Meiji-za theatre; observe the vertical broken lines of stitching. Across the surface and upon the backdrop hover eight rectangles with kanji and the odd ideogram. This is a sponsorship poster effectively… albeit a very rare and a very beautiful one.
Danjuro is shown as a character that he had played in 1894, three years earlier… that of Matsuomaru. The ‘hat-box’ reveals that the scene is the Village School scene from the kabuki play, Secrets of Calligraphy. The story is, to our modern sensibilities really horrific. The play is one of many about the great historical character of the politician, Sugawara no Michizane, later known as the transmogrified thunder god, Kan Shojo. Michizane has fallen from grace and has placed his son under the protection of his former protege and now village school master Takebe Genzo. A magistrate arrives requiring that Michizane’s son be immediately beheaded and the head taken back in a box. All are horrified, and Genzo contrives to substitute Michizane’s son with a new boy who has arrived at the school, Kotaro.
The gruesome ‘head box’ sits in front of Matsuomaru. What happens next after this dramatic moment is that Matsuomaru delves into the box revealing the head of his own child whom he has sent to the school as a sacrifice for his secret loyalty to Michizane. The dramatic climax is when, removing the head he shows no emotion but says clearly, this is the head of Kan Shusai (Michizane’s son). The magistrate and and the evil Genba retire satisfied and the plot to substitute the boys is revealed amid great joy over the honour and bravery that has been shown.
The play was very popular, hence is use in this patent advertisement. What we see is the painted backdrop of a kabuki stage curtain. Against this are the advertisements for various patent medicines. In front of them is the imposing figure of Danjuro IX holding the box with the character’s own son’s head inside. Is there a message? Can these remedies cure Matsuomaru’s pain? Well, dubious I suppose. These medicinal prints are very highly collectible. Over a third of the collection of the University of California’s ukiyo-e are on this subject. and a copy of this print is part of that collection.
The print is outstanding… dusted with iridescent mica, deeply embossed and embellished with silver highlights. Colour, condition and impression are all fine. This is a highly collectible prints in excellent condition with a fascinating backstory.
Publisher: Fukuda Kumajiro.
75 x 35 cm.
