Utagawa Kunisada/Toyokuni III (1786-1865) Fifty-three Stations of the Tôkaidô Road: Fujisawa and Hiratsuka - Actors Iwai Kumesaburô III as Terute-hime and Nakamura Fukusuke I as Oguri, 1853. Oban.
Click here for a full-size image.
We are showing two prints from a fairly rare and unusual Kunisada series of the Tokaido Road. Kunisada’s very famous series of the same subject from the previous year had been wildly successful. Probably one of the most successful editions of woodblock prints of all time, Kunisada’s inspired and justly famous series of actors paired with the stations of the Tokaido marries two of the most popular genres of ukiyo-e into one theme. Each print, some issued as pairs, depicts a half length actor portrait set against a background of a Tokaido Station scene, borrowed with impunity from Hiroshige’s landscape series of the 1830’s. In many cases, the landscape background is almost transcribed line for line.
In all, Kunisada made three series in 1852 using the same successful formula. This in part was inspired by the need to conform to strict censorship of the time. This series dispenses with the backgrounds altogether. Instead the cartouches remain, sometimes elaborately decorated with accoutrements from the play depicted. In this case the play is Oguri Hangan, one of the most famous dramas of the period. Kabuki 21 writes:
Oguri Hangan(1398~1464) was the son of a provincial lord who had been dispossessed of his estates by the Ashikaga clan. He led an extremely adventurous life when young, but eventually settled down and led a quiet life. A legend was born, related to Hangan's real adventures. This legend has all the elements of great myth and is one of the great Buddhist stories of miracles and tragedies. In the original legend, Oguri was born to an aristocratic family in Kyôto, only to be driven from his home. He wandered through the country, finally ending up at the mansion of a man named Daizen in Hitachi, one of the distant provinces in the east. Daizen's daughter Terute fell in love with Oguri, but Daizen first tries to kill him with a wild horse, then with poisoned wine. In the end, he ends up horribly deformed and half-dead, already almost part of the world beyond. But Terute faithfully believing in a miracle and believing that pulling this cart will bring them great merit pulls him on a cart. Finally, he reaches a waterfall in the sacred land of Kumano and is restored to life.
Kunisada pictures Terute and Hangan transformed. Terute holds the rope of the wooden cart with which she dragged the deformed prince. The cartouches show the accoutrements of their journey.
A great print from a rare series and from the finest period of woodblock printing. Deep, rich colours and striking design and block cutting. Only a very remote connection to the station of the Tokaido. A copy of this print is in the MFA Boston.
Publisher: Kiya Sōjirō.
36cm x 25cm.
