Utagawa Yoshitaki (1841 - 1899) Onoe Tamizo and Arashi Tokusaburo in "A Courtesan and Dyed Ishikawa Colours", 1866. Chuban diptych.
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This snow scene by the Osaka artist Yoshitaki is from the play, Keisei ishikawazome ("A courtesan and dyed Ishikawa colours"), one of the many plays devoted to the renegade Ishikawa Goemon. Although the plot of Keisei ishikawazome is lost, Goemon is well documented in history and legend. In real life, Goemon (1558 – 1594) was the son of the sixteenth-century warrior Takechi Mitsuhide, who was killed by Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1537-1598) just before the beginning of the Tokugawa shogunate. Hideyoshi ordered the extermination of the entire clan, but the young Goemon survived, and years later sought to avenge his father's death by killing Hideyoshi. After numerous intrigues and escapes (in the theatrical dramas Goemon possesses magical powers and is a master of disguise), he was eventually captured and executed — in reality, by being boiled in oil, along with his son, in a gruesome public spectacle. Goemon's exploits were very popular subjects in legend, songs, narrative fiction, and plays. The many dramatic variations on his life included spectacular aerial performances and the dramatic Sanmon Gate scene which is a common trope in ukiyo-e:
The Sanmon gates start to rise on stage, revealing the first floor of the structure, a purification stone basin and … a pilgrim, who is none other than Mashiba Hideyoshi. He writes on one of the pillars the following sentence: "The number of thieves is countless, as the sands of the shore of the beach of Shichirigahama". He sees Goemon through the reflection in the water of the stone basin. The thief recognises his sworn enemy and quickly flings a dagger at him. Hideyoshi parries the attack with the handle of the basin dipper. Both actors strike their final pose: Hideyoshi challenges Goemon, who has one foot on the balcony guardrail, one hand on his sword and a menacing face, ending one of the shortest but most spectacular Kabuki plays.
In this diptych, Yoshitaki shows a dramatic fight scene between Ishikawa Goemon played by Onoe Tamizo (on the right) and Horio Tatewaki played by Arashi Tokusaburo. Unusually an almost identical diptych of the same scene by Hironobu from the same production is well known; a good example is in the MFA Boston.
Two sheets, unbacked. Minor worm holes. Colour and impression all fine. Metallics and burnishing to embossed areas.
38 x 25 cm.
