• Nakamura Utaemon III (中村歌右衛門) as Torii Matasuke (鳥井又助) in <i>The Courtesan and Mirror Mountain</i> (<i>Keisei Kagamiyama</i> -  けいせい双鏡山) - this is the right panel of a diptych
Nakamura Utaemon III (中村歌右衛門) as Torii Matasuke (鳥井又助) in <i>The Courtesan and Mirror Mountain</i> (<i>Keisei Kagamiyama</i> -  けいせい双鏡山) - this is the right panel of a diptych
Nakamura Utaemon III (中村歌右衛門) as Torii Matasuke (鳥井又助) in <i>The Courtesan and Mirror Mountain</i> (<i>Keisei Kagamiyama</i> -  けいせい双鏡山) - this is the right panel of a diptych
Nakamura Utaemon III (中村歌右衛門) as Torii Matasuke (鳥井又助) in <i>The Courtesan and Mirror Mountain</i> (<i>Keisei Kagamiyama</i> -  けいせい双鏡山) - this is the right panel of a diptych
Nakamura Utaemon III (中村歌右衛門) as Torii Matasuke (鳥井又助) in <i>The Courtesan and Mirror Mountain</i> (<i>Keisei Kagamiyama</i> -  けいせい双鏡山) - this is the right panel of a diptych

Jukōdō Yoshikuni (寿好堂よし国) (artist )

Nakamura Utaemon III (中村歌右衛門) as Torii Matasuke (鳥井又助) in The Courtesan and Mirror Mountain (Keisei Kagamiyama - けいせい双鏡山) - this is the right panel of a diptych

Print


01/25/1821
10 in x 15 in (Overall dimensions) color woodblock print
Signed: Yoshikuni ga (芳国画)
Publisher: Toshikuraya Shinbei (Marks 539)
Publisher's seal: Toshishin (利新 Marks 25-553)
Lyon Collection - Kuniyoshi print of Torii Matasuke from 1852
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston - Kunisada diptych, 1832
Lyon Collection - 1852 Hirosada diptych with Torii Matasuke
Hankyu Culture Foundation
Hankyu Culture Foundation - another panel from this composition
Museum of Fine Arts Boston - Ashiyuki diptych Torii Matasuke is tricked into killing his own master. Here he is waiting along the bank of a river for the man he thinks is his enemy to arrive.

This is the right-hand sheet of a diptych which depicts Nakamura Utaemon III as Torii Matasuke and (left sheet, missing) Bandō Mitsugorō III as general Taga in Courtesan and Mirror Mountain (Keisei Kagamiyama - けいせい双鏡山), Kado no Shibai, Osaka, 1/1821.

Inscription on Post: “Now at the Kado Theater”

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As of May 2025 we know of four prints in the Lyon Collection that deal with the character Torii Matsusuke. They range in dates from 1821 to 1852. Three share one element in common, i.e., the gabion along the waterfront, and two similarities in the hero's costume.

Torii Matasuke is tricked into killing his own master. Here he is waiting along the bank of a river for the man he thinks is his enemy to arrive. He stands there with his bare right foot planted squarely on the ground, while his left foot is placed on a gabion or jakago (蛇籠), a bamboo basket filled with stone to prevent erosion. The same bamboo utility item appears in three of the prints showing Torii Matasuke in the Lyon Collection. The earliest example is in a Yoshikuni print from 1821 and the other two are by Kuniyoshi and Hirosada, both dated to 1852.

Another commonality shared by two of these prints was the 'starfish' pattern of the shibori (絞り) or tie-dyed fabric Matsusuke is wearing. In the Yoshikuni print it is the lower part of his outfit, while in the Hirosada it is the top.

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Illustrated:

1) in color in Ikeda Bunko, Kamigata yakusha-e shūsei, vol. 1, 1997, #316, p. 109 the whole diptych is shown.

2) in color in Osaka Prints by Dean Schwaab, Rizzoli, 1989, page 75, #31. Again, the full diptych is shown. Schwaab states: “On the 22nd day of the first month, the Edo actors Matsumoto Kôshirô V and Iwai Hanshirô V, who, like Mitsugorô, had also arrived late the preceding year, opened in a production of Keisei Tonoshimadai, at the Naka Theater that included the local star Arashi Kichisabrô II. At this performance Kichisaburô changed names, styling himself Kitsusaburô I until his death later in the year. On the 25th of the same month, Utaemon, Mitsugorô, and Nakamura Matsue III starred in a production of Keisei Kagamiyama... The presence of these two competing groups of superstars must surely be one of the unique events in the entire history of the theater in Ōsaka. This strong composition represents Yoshikuni at his early best....”
Kyōto-Osaka prints (kamigata-e - 上方絵) (genre)
Nakamura Utaemon III (三代目中村歌右衛門) (actor)
Toshikuraya Shinbei (利倉屋新兵衛) (publisher)
Keisei Kagamiyama (けいせい双鏡山) (kabuki)