Tsuruya Kōkei (弦屋光溪) (artist 1946)

Ichimura Uzaemon XVII [市村羽左衛門] as Senoo Jūrō Kaneuji in Sanemori monogatari [実盛物語]

Print

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Date:11/1995
Dimensions:10.25 in x 15.5 in (Overall dimensions) Links Prints of Japan
Yale University Art Gallery Description:This design is number 7 in the Bust Portraits X series, printed on tosa ganpi paper, made in Kochi Prefecture, and printed from blocks made of magnolia obovata wood.

There is another copy of this print in the collection of the British Museum, but it is not illustrated online. It is listed as item number 2000,0131,0.25. They also say that it is number 8 in the series and not number 7 as we have it here.

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The Japan Arts Council wrote about the bunraku play Genpei Nunobiki no Taki in December 2023: "Saitō Sanemori, a military commander of the Heike family, cuts off the arm of a woman named Koman, who tries to escape by swimming across Lake Biwa while raising the white Genji flag (flag of truce). Meanwhile in Koman’s parents’ house, Aoi Gozen, who is pregnant by the late Kiso Yoshikata, a military commander of the Genji family, is being sheltered. Under an order from Taira no Kiyomori, Sanemori and Senoo Jūrō arrive at the house to investigate whether Aoi Gozen’s newborn baby is a boy. As the interrogation comes to a head, Sanemori cooks up an explanation to sort out the difficult situation. He reports to Senoo that the arm, which was found and brought back by Koman’s father Kurosuke and her son Tarokichi, thought to be born from Aoi Gozen. After Senoo leaves, Sanemori explains the reason for his having cut off Koman’s arm. Sanemori’s formidable appearance as a vigorous warlord, a sense of the vanity of life from the life of Sanemori; precisely because his last moments had already been infamous, the surprising truth revealed by the villain Senoo, and the complex pattern of human relationships among the characters that becomes increasingly clear as Tarokichi grows up."
Related entities self-printed (sōsaku hanga - 創作版画) (genre)
Ichimura Uzaemon XVII (十七代目市村羽左衛門: 10/1955 to 7/8/2001) (actor)

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