Konishi Hirosada (ca 1810 - 1864) Chuko Junishi no Uchi (Loyalty
and Fidelty for the Twelve Signs of the Zodiac): Dog - Ichikawa Shikô III as Shirai Gonpachi, c.1848. Deluxe Chuban.
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This fine print by the Osaka artist, Konishi Hirosada (ca 1810 - 1864), is a mitate…
a kind of puzzle picture. The puzzle here though is more serious than
mere entertainment. In the 1840’s in Japan, but especially in Osaka, a
crumbling and centuries old government was attempting to stay afloat by
imposing strict anti-decadence laws… sometimes referred to as the Tenpo
Reforms. These prohibited the depiction of actors or theatre subjects, a
genre that had been hitherto wildly popular among kabuki fans.
Artists and publishers attempted work-arounds by producing recognisable
prints of unnamed actors, often in imaginary roles or else in roles not
taken in real life. These prints were then issued under the guise of
approved subjects… moral tales, views of famous landmarks or as in this
case, the signs of the zodiac.
Deciphering these prints at such a
distance is quite a task. Osaka prints are less well known, were
produced (albeit to extraordinary quality) in small numbers and short
print runs and the school tends to be under-represented in the
literature. The portrait is that of the kabuki actor Ichikawa Shikô II as Shirai Gonpachi from the play Sangoku daiichi nochi no kusemono. The details of the play are lost, but the character and his attributes are well known… Gonpachi was a Ronin - a leaderless samurai and street tough. He rescues a girl from the inn of some bandits in return for her warning him that he is to be robbed that night. Later, in the Yoshiwara district he finds the same girl, the daughter of humble grocers, now working as a prostitute in order to keep her elderly parents. Gonpachi, unable to help her this time, turns to crime and the play shows how he loses his chivalrous spirit and becomes a murderer - robbing for money to visit the brothel where he sees his lover. Unable to live with himself and pursued by the law, he commits suicide. His descent from law abiding citizen was because of a dog… hence the connection to the zodiac sign. When out walking, his dog fought with another dog belonging to a fellow-clansman, and the two men, arguing over whose dog had won the fight, quarrelled and Gonpachi killed his adversary and fled to Edo… the remainder of his story as above was the subject of numerous dramas and novels.
The Zodiac sign is, ‘dog’, seen in the calligraphy in the top right, black cartouche. The cartouche to the upper left shows the full moon. Interestingly, this probably refers to a tiangou, a legendary creature which resembles a black dog and is thought to eat the moon during an eclipse. The game in these prints… then as now, is to connect all the elements to form the entire, allusive picture.
All of the prints in this series were found in a very battered concertina album of the period. In order to rescue the prints, remove them from the decaying acidic backing card and repair the wormholes, the complete album has had to be disassembled. The prints have been conserved and are in outstanding condition, aside from some repaired worm damage, principally to the plain margins. The complete deluxe set in this condition even with the marginal damage is very rare. Each print is exquisitely produced with deluxe embossing, double printing, mica and metallics… it is a masterpiece of the woodblock art. Aside from the worm damage the prints are all in very fine condition. The impressions and print quality are perfect, the condition is fine with no fading and and no discolouration. Since it was necessary to separate the prints from their backing etc we feel that the set may reasonably be sold individually or as a complete series.
This print has worm damage to the left hand margin, the upper right cartouche, and to the robes, just nicking the face. Colour and impression fine, condition very good. Burnishing to hairpiece, shomen-zuri to robes and embossing to moon in cartouche. Publisher's mark in left-hand margin.
An interesting feature of the set is the fact that they were published by Matsuki Heikichi, a publisher and printer of woodblock prints during the Meiji era, located in Yoshikawa-cho, a considerable distance from Osaka. He was the fourth generation in the family, known later for promoting the work of Kobayashi Kiyochika.
A copy of this print is in the Saint Louis Art Museum.
18 x 24.5 cm.
