Utagawa Kunisada/Toyokuni III (1786-1865) Eight Views of the Floating World: Clearing Weather in the Back Field - Ichikawa Kodanji IV as Danshichi Kurobei, 1855. Oban Diptych.
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This tremendous, tattooed, scene of rage and vengeance is by the master of theatre prints, Kunisada. It is an odd mix of actor portrait, theatre stage scene, thoughtful cryptic crossword clue and genius design. The subject is a scene from the play, Hana Shôbu Otoko Kagami, performed at the Nakamura Theatre in 1855.
The drama portrays the downtrodden, hopeless life of the young man, Danshichi. Danshichi was a real Edo everyman… a fishmonger, the archetype of the Edo Otokodate. The role was based on a real man, a fishmonger in the city of Sakai, who killed a man in the middle of winter in 1697. The body was hidden in the snow and discovered in spring, after the melting of the snow. The drama contains the most famous and spectacular murder scene (the one 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 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.
In this simply fabulous print, we see the famous murder of Danshichi’s father in law, Giheiji. Typically Danshichi has again been humiliated and insulted. He grapples with his opponent, they fall in a pile of mud, the actor must strike thirteen separate poses before he washes himself down with a bucket of water. Behind him we see the tops of floats from a passing festival, itself a symbol of the alienation of the city. The forbidding black wall, backdrop symbolises how much apart Danshichi has become… he is alone with his rage, his murder, his frustration.
The title is an irony. The ‘Eight Views’ is an East Asian term used to allude to the most beautiful or otherwise significant scenes of a certain area. Historically, various series of eight views were produced such as in the Eight Views of Lake Biwa. An artistic tradition developed, with a number of artists doing versions of the series. Series of eight views typically appeared in poetry and paintings recalling the peace and serenity of the Buddhist ideal. Scenes such as, Returning Sails at Yabase, Evening Glow at Seta, Evening Bell at Miidera etc. Hence, Kunisada’s title, Clearing Weather in the Back Field, used to illustrate a violent urban murder is an ironic commentary on the ideals of serenity gone badly awry.
The print, despite the subject, is superb. Colour and condition, design and the tremendous irony of the concept are outstanding examples of Edo print culture at its best. Unbacked, impression and colour are very good, as is the condition overall, excepting some soiling to the lower edges. Mica and burnishing in the background; shomen-zuri fence posts on the black fence. There is a copy of the print in the MFA in Boston.
Publisher: Ōtaya Takichi (Hori Takichi).
51 x 36 cm.
