Toyohara Kunichika (1835-1900) Kawarazaki Gonjûrô I as Minbu, 1865. Oban.
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A beautifully constructed print by Kunichika. The delicacy and design of the composition has a great sophistication, as does the colour. Set against a screen background of stylised bamboo beneath two poetic, geometric cartouche insets is the portrait of the actor Kawarazaki Gonjûrô I as Minbu, a minor legal functionary who is pictured holding what looks to be an iron war-fan.
The play that the character appears in, Shin Usuyuki Monogatari, was originally a bunraku or puppet play. The plot revolves around a young couple wishing to be betrothed and their gift of a sword to the temple being sabotaged by the wicked Daizen, who places a curse on the sword - thereby framing the young lovers. The plot unfolds and Minbu is called upon to investigate the crime. Charged with beheading their own children, the fathers of the lovers vow to take their own lives. But with many plot twists, this epic play comes to a conclusion in a melding together of young love, the transmission of ancient secrets of sword-making and finally, an old sword-maker finding an opportunity to return a debt to his teacher, the man that taught him everything he knows.
The print is in fine condition, the colour is outstanding, impression is fine and the blocks cut by Matsushima Hori Masa. Burnishing to the fan. There is a copy of the print in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
Published by Kinseido.
35 x 24 cm.
