Ichikawa Udanji I [市川右団治] as Kainosuke [甲斐之助] on the right and Onoe Tamizō II [尾上多見蔵] as Komakine Hachirō [駒木根八郎] on the left, in <i>Irokurabe Aki no Nanakusa</i> (色競秋七草) [(sic) - actually <i>Keisei Nazuna no Sekku</i> - けいせい薺佳節]

Utagawa Yoshitaki (歌川芳滝) (artist 1841 – 1899)

Ichikawa Udanji I [市川右団治] as Kainosuke [甲斐之助] on the right and Onoe Tamizō II [尾上多見蔵] as Komakine Hachirō [駒木根八郎] on the left, in Irokurabe Aki no Nanakusa (色競秋七草) [(sic) - actually Keisei Nazuna no Sekku - けいせい薺佳節]

Print


02/1873
14.25 in x 9.75 in (Overall dimensions) Japanese woodblock print

Signed: Yoshitaki 芳瀧 (on each sheet)
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston - the earlier version
Lyon Collection - an earlier 1867 version of this diptych

This diptych commemorates a performance of at the Naka Theater in the eighth month of 1867. Look closely at the bulge in the blue cloth behind the figure of Komakine Hachirō. You will see that this is caused by a stagehand all dressed in black. His feet which are visible is a dead giveaway. Hachirō is standing on the edge of the hanamichi, where it meets the stage. In the lower left you will see a bracket to hold a torch or lamp for lighting. And below the figure on the right you will notice a curved black line. This indicates that this stage could revolve if needed.

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A recycled version of an earlier print at MFA Boston, with a different color scheme and a different actor on the left. However, someone forgot to change the title of the play, in the red box at upper right, and so it still refers to the earlier production, Irokurabe Aki no Nanakusa, at the Naka Theater in 1867.8.
Ichikawa Udanji I (初代市川右団次: 8/1862 to 12/1908) (actor)
Onoe Tamizō II (二代目尾上多見蔵: 11/1820-1848; 1850-November, 1885) (actor)
actor prints (yakusha-e - 役者絵) (genre)
Kyōto-Osaka prints (kamigata-e - 上方絵) (genre)