Utagawa Kunisada/Toyokuni III (1786-1865) The Seven Variations of the Iroha: Matsumoto Koshiro VI as Nikki Danjo, 1856. Oban.
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These late series by Kunisada are often very hard to understand. Here the syllables from the Kana alphabet are given in seven different ways. The context of the Kana is as follows:
Kana isn't a single alphabet but refers to two Japanese syllabaries, the Hiragana and Katakana phonetic scripts, where each symbol represents a syllable, developed from Chinese characters (Kanji) to simplify writing Japanese sounds, with Hiragana for native words/grammar and Katakana for foreign loanwords, emphasis, and onomatopoeia. Together, Hiragana and Katakana form the core phonetic system of Japanese, used alongside Kanji. The series is very similar to Nanatsu Iroha Shui
("After the seven Iroha") from the same year. The point of this very
large series was to illustrate the calligraphic variations - seven in
all - of the old kana phonetic alphabet. Each print represents one syllable - in this case ne
- written in seven different ways as seen in the folding screen in the
upper part of the print. The screen (reading from right to left) has a
decorative cartouche of an animal mouth and repeated Toshidama seals.
The screen proper has a blank face and then the four black faces with
seven syllables in white calligraphy.
Most of the prints use scenes and characters from well known kabuki plays. They are a veritable compendium of folk history and kabuki plot-lines! The story here is a kabuki drama of palace intrigue made wildly popular by the central character, the almost pantomime brilliant Nikki Danjo, who manages to appear in clouds of smoke and disappear likewise, finally transforming into a magical rat. The child Tsuruchiyo has become head of the clan. He is kept in the women’s quarters and looked after by a nurse maid (Masaoka) for fear of assassination. The palace chatelaine and her brother Nikki Danjo plot to kill the young prince. In a moving scene Masaoka’s young son is killed in error but such is her devotion that she shows no emotion and continues the fiction that it is in fact Tsuruchiyo who lies dead. As a result she is handed a scroll with the names of the conspirators. Her true loyalty is finally discovered and a fight ensues which sees a gigantic rat appear on stage and run off with the scroll in its teeth.
The final scene is a classic of kabuki drama. A servant spots the rat and attacks it; it escapes but dramatically re-emerges through a trapdoor in the hanamichi (the stage extension into the theatre audience) in the true form of Nikki Danjo and carrying the scroll in his mouth. He exits the stage as if walking magically on clouds.
These prints are tremendously well printed, highly detailed and densely packed with imagery… generally underrated. This example is in very good condition, unbacked with fine colour and impression. Bottom and left margins trimmed.
publisher: Minatoya Kohei.
36cm x 24cm.
