Utagawa Hirosada (歌川広貞: 1810-1864) (artist 1810 – 1864)
Nakamura Utaemon IV (中村歌右衛門) as Danshichi Kurobei (団七九郎兵衛) - left panel of a diptych
05/1850
7.25 in x 9.75 in (Overall dimensions) Japanese woodblock print
Signed: Hirosada (広貞)
Waseda University - without the second cartouche with the actor's name
Philadelphia Museum of Art - without the second cartouche
Hankyu Culture Foundation - without the second cartouche
Walters Museum of Art - the full diptych - without the second added cartouche naming the actor
Honolulu Museum of Art - the full diptych
The Wellcome Collection - misidentified as a Toyokuni III print - without the second cartouche The Tempo Reforms proscribed the use of actor's names on prints. Hirosada and his publiser(s) would have avoided naming the actors for that reason. However, this print in the Lyon Collection has the cartouche naming the actor, but this was a later afterthought. Almost no other examples of this print carry the actor's name. Perhaps a collector added this designation.
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This print was published to commemorate a performance of Natsumatsuri Naniwa Kagami at the Naka Theater in Osaka in 5/1850. The right-hand panel shows Kurobei's very bloodied and mortally wounded father-in-law.
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Illustrated:
1) in Ikeda bunko, Kamigata yakusha-e shūsei, vol. 4, 2003, #297.
2) in color in ‘The beauty of cruelty. The origins of Danshichi and his evolution as a tattooed anti-hero in Natsu matsuri’ by John Fiorillo in Andon 87, December 2009, p. 38. We know of two editions of this print diptych. This example in the Lyon Collection would appear to be from an early printing.
3) In a color reproduction in Ukiyo-e to Horimono: the history and art of Japanese Prints and Tattooing by Jan van Doesburg, 2013, cat. 025. The full diptych is shown.
4) in black and white (the whole diptych) in The Male Journey in Japanese Prints by Roger Keyes, University of California Press, 1989, fig. 209, p. 152.
5) in a black and white detail shot of the actor's back in 'Osaka tattoos' by Jan van Doesburg in Andon 72 &73, October, 2002, fig.11, p. 111. Van Doesburg wrote on page 111: "In the following year the always popular Natsu matsuri was staged yet again, this time with Nakamura Utaemon IV as Danshichi. The performance took place in 5/1850 at the Naka Theatre, and it was a big hit. It drew the attention of the leading artists and publishers, which led to no less than eight different multi-sheet compositions, all chūban, depicting the tattoos of Danshichi Kurobei and Tsuribune no Sabu. The most striking tattoo appears on a diptych by Hirosada, with Danshichi and Giheiji in their famous murder scene. The star of the play is portrayed on the left-hand panel... with the back of his fully tattooed body turned towards Giheiji, who appears on the right-hand panel, wounded and mud-smeared. The centre of Danshichi's flamboyant tattoo is formed by a three-eyed, monstrous face that is placed against a spider's web. It refers to the story of the legendary and heroic Raikō (Minamoto no Yorimitsu), who is haunted by a giant earth spider that could suck vitality from a human body. This monster symbolizes Giheiji's continuous insults and his attempts to get under Danshichi's skin. The hero feels as if he must release himself from a spider's web of torment and thus succumbs to his violent temper. In a raging passion he first wounds Giheiji by slashing his face, and then finally kills him, just as Raikō did with the tormenting spider."
"The tattoo on Danshichi's upper arms and lower back has a pattern of whirlwind/thunder motifs that symbolically accentuate the anger of the street knight. It is also applied to the left forearm, but the right forearm remains untattooed. Such an asymmetrical design is quite unusual for a Japanese tattoo. Again, this is probably one of those artistic liberties that we also see when comparing other prints related to the present performance."
6) in black and white - the full diptych - in Hirosada: Osaka Printmaker, Roger Keyes, University Art Museum, California State University, Long Beach, 1984, no. 37a, page 107.
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Osaka Prints gave a detailed description of this diptytch.
Natsu matsuri Naniwa kagami (Mirror of the Osaka summer festival: 夏祭浪花鑑) was originally a nine-act sewamono (domestic or everyday drama: 世話物) staged for ningyô jôruri (puppet theater: 人形淨瑠璃) in 1745. Danshichi Kurobei, a fishmonger and otokodate ("upright man" or chivalrous commoner: 男伊達 or 男作) was imprisoned for wounding a retainer of Ôshima Sagaemon (an enemy of Danshichi's ally, Tamashima Hyôdayû). Danshichi is paroled on the condition that he foreswear violence, so any breach of this agreement, however minor, will land him back in prison. Immediately after his release, he stops at the home of his friend Tsuribune no Sabu to wash and change clothes before seeing his wife. While there, Danshichi is attacked by the samurai Issun Tokubei who is allied with an enemy of the Tamashima clan. Sabu intercedes to prevent Danshichi's risking a return to prison by seizing a folding screen and holding it up between the two adversaries. Before the fight is resolved, Danshichi's wife, Okaji, arrives and is upset to discover that her husband, even before reaching home to rejoin his family, has fallen prey to violence again. Not long after, in a reversal of alliance, Tokubei befriends Danshichi and they pledge to protect the Tamashima clan....
Hirosada's diptych depicts the deadly confrontation between Danshichi and his father-in-law, Giheiji, in one of kabuki's most famous episodes — Nagamachi no ura no ba ("Back street scene in Nagamachi"). As their argument escalates over Danshichi's failure to honor a payment to ransom the courtesan Kotoura, sounds of revelry can be heard from an approaching Kozû Shrine Festival parade in Dôtonbor. During performances of this play, the boisterous music provides an incongruous carnivalesque accompaniment to the action in the gloomy backstreet. Danshichi draws his sword, accidentally cutting Giheiji, who screams, "Murderer!" Overcome with rage, Danshichi, his unknotted hair falling to his shoulders, strips down to a red loincloth, revealing his tattooed body. As Danshichi moves in on his prey, he performs various koroshi no mie (murderer's poses: 殺し見得) in counterpoint to Giheiji's displays of panic and supplication. Finally, after Danshichi asks for forgiveness, he ends the old man's life with a thrust of his sword. Danshichi then washes splattered blood and Giheiji's muddy handprints from his body, using water from a nearby well. He escapes by mingling with the large crowd of festival celebrants.
Danshichi Kurobei (団七九郎兵衛) (role)
actor prints (yakusha-e - 役者絵) (genre)
Nakamura Utaemon IV (四代目中村歌右衛門: 1/1836-2/1852) (actor)
Tattoo (genre)
Kabuki (歌舞伎) theater terms (genre)
Minamoto no Yorimitsu or Raikō (源頼光: 948-1021) (role)