Utagawa Kunihisa (歌川国久) (artist )
Onoe Matsusuke I (尾上松助) as the ghost of Iohata (いおはた...) and Iwai Kiyotarō II (岩井喜世太郎) as a boatman Tokubei (せんどう徳兵衛)
07/1804
9.5 in x 13 in (Overall dimensions) color woodblock print
Signed: Toyokuni monjin Kunihisa ga
豊国門人国久画
Publisher: Moriya Jihei (Marks 353 - seal 01-079)
The National Museum of Asian Art
Lyon Collection - another Kunihisa print showing Kiyotarō II as Tokubei
Lyon Collection - another Kunihisa print of Onoe Matsusuke as Iohata A dynamic ghost scene from the debut in 7/1804 of Tenjiku Tokubei ikoku no banashi (天竺徳兵衛韓噺) at the Kawarazaki Theater in Edo. Matsusuke was lauded for his performance in this role.
Kunihisa was a talented contemporary female artist in Toyokuni's early studio with Kunimasa. She is known by only a few designs, all featuring ghosts.
Toyokuni also produced a haunting rendition of Iohata at the same time, but published by a different house. Marks lists this publisher as unidentified, giving it a reading of 'Ki' at U136a - seal #15-002, active between 1804-10. We have added it as a jpeg on this page for a comparison of a print of Iohata by both the master and his pupil.
The National Museum of Asian Art which owns a copy of the Toyokuni I print says in its curatorial notes: "In this print, a sheet from a larger composition, the actor Matsumoto Kojiro recoils in terror while Iohata, a female ghost played by Onoe Matsusuke I (1744-1815), stands behind him. The scene is an episode from the play, Tenjiku Tokubei ikoku no hanashi, in its premier performance in 1804 at the Kawarazaki Theater in Edo. In this performance, Matsusuke, who was born in Osaka, also played the lead role of Tokubei, a character who became a specialty of the Onoe family just as Sukeroku was for the Ichikawa Danjuro family. Matsusuke was especially known for his portrayals of vengeful ghosts and for hayagawari transformations that enabled him to play as many as seven roles in a play. The Onoe family was one of the most important in the Edo kabuki world, second only to the Ichikawa Danjuro family." Although it is clear stylistically that these two prints are related it is also equally clear that they are modeled on the figures that appeared in the same play when it was performed in 7/1804. However, the information as to who performed the role of Tokubei does not jibe with the information provided by the Smithsonian.
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Illustrated in black and white in a small reproduction on page 332 of Masterful Illustrations: Japanese Prints in the Anne van Biema Collection.
actor prints (yakusha-e - 役者絵) (genre)
Moriya Jihei (森屋治兵衛) (publisher)
Yūrei-zu (幽霊図 - ghosts demons monsters and spirits) (genre)
Iwai Kiyotarō II (二代目岩井喜世太郎) (actor)
Onoe Matsusuke I (初代尾上松助: 11/1755 to 10/1809) (actor)
Tsuruya Nanboku IV (四代目鶴屋南北) (author)