Shunbaisai Hokuei (春梅斎北英) (artist )
Arashi Rikan II (嵐璃寛) as Akogi Heiji (あこぎ平次) from the series Tōsei keshōkagami (当世化粧鏡)
06/1835
10 in x 14.5 in (Overall dimensions) Japanese color woodblock print
Signed: Shunbaisai Hokuei ga
春梅斎北英画
Publisher: Honya Seishichi (Marks 123 - seal 27-035)
Carver: Hori Kuma
Printer: suri Toyo (摺豐)
Metropolitan Museum of Art
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston - dated to 8/1830
Waseda University
Waseda University - Akogi Heiji print from the 100 poets series
Kabuki21 - summary of the play Seishū Akogi-ga-Ura
Fujisawa Ukiyo-e Museum - 1852 Toyokuni III print of this figure
Google Maps - Ise Bay
Hankyu Culture Foundation - dated 8/7/1830 John Fiorillo wrote on page 112 in his Hokuei: Master of Osaka Kabuki Prints: "The placement of actor bust portraits (ōkubi-e) within roundels was a popular design motif in Japanese prints. Although these compositions can be parsed as mirror reflections of actor likenesses, many roundels served as frames enclosing telescopic views of actors on stage, in effect "zoomed in" to emphasize climactic poses (mie). Imported European scopic instruments were well known in Japan and likely had some influence on the interpretation and appreciation of these image."
"The play Seishū Akogi no ura involves the ailing mother of Akogi no Heiji. She has been ill for three years when Akogi hears of a rare fish called yagara (cornetfish) that will restore her to good health. Unfortunately, fishing in Akogi Bay has been banned because it is part of the imperial shrine at Ise, so Akogi must resort to poaching at night. When he casts his net, he brings up a precious heirloom sword. Although determined to keep fishing, he is stopped by a local poacher named Heiga Jirozō, who raises the alarm in the hope of deflecting suspicion from his own poaching. The two struggle, but all Heiga manages to take is Akogi's raincoat and sedge hat, which has his name on it. Later, the village headman Hikosaku confronts Akogi, who throws him out of his home. Akogi then confesses to his wife Oharu, also telling her that he recognizes the sword as the one named Totsuka, sought by her father, the general Tamura. In the denouement, Heiga kills Hikosaku to prevent him from reporting Akogi, confessing that he once worked for Akogi's father and thus owes his loyalty to the family. He also announces that his foster father was responsible for the loss of the sword, which was why he was fishing in the bay. When the police finally arrive, Heiga gives himself up, taking the blame die atealing the sword adn thereby freeing Akogi."
The end of the sword can be seen in a brocade sleeve.
Later the author writes: "Three dates have been proposed for this print. Some sources suggest 8/1830, but that would be much too early given the Shunbaisai signature. One source identifies the play as Simple Chronicle of the Rise and Fall of the Heike and Genji (Hiragana seisuiki) at the Naka Theater on 5/1834. The most likely staging commemorated by this design, however, appears to have taken place at a provincial venue, the Wakamiya Theater in Nagoya."
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Some background for Akogi Heiji
In The Hundred Poets Compared: A Print Series by Kuniyoshi, Hiroshige and Kunisada by Henk Herwig and Johsua Mostow there is a Kuniyoshi print which focuses on the study of Akogi Heiji. It says on page 176:
The story of the fisherman Heiji is based on a legend about the poaching of fish on forbidden grounds. It was dramatized first as the Noh play Akogi and later several versions were produced for the puppet and Kabuki stage.****
Heiji's mother has been ill for a long period. The doctor tells him that the only way to cure his mother is to catch a rare fish called a yagara, which can only be found in Akogi Bay. Fishing there is prohibited because it is a preserve of the Grand Ise Shrine of Ise. Nevertheless, Heiji casts his net into the bay, but instead of a yagara he brings up a precious sword. At that moment Heiji is discovered by another poacher, Jirozō, who beats wooden clappers to sound the alarm on the discovery of a poacher. In the ensuing struggle, Heiji manages to escape but his straw raincoat and sedge hat remain in the hands of Jirozō. Before long the local magistrate comes to Heiji's house to arrest him, but when Heiji offers to surrender himself, Jirozō interferes, stating that it was he who was the offender. As evidence he shows the sedge hat bearing two Chinese characters 'hei' and 'ji', saying that they do not represent Heiji's name but are the initials of Jirozō's family name, 'Hiragawa', (the character for 'hira' can also be read as 'hei' and his given name is 'Jirozō'. The magistrate accepts this self-sacrificing interpretation, clearing the way for Heiji to return the imperial sword to his former master, General Tamura, in Kyoto.
Arashi Rikan II as Akogi Heiji commemorates a scene from the play Seishū Akogi-ga-ura (勢州阿漕浦). This is the last of a series of roundel bust portraits designed by Hokuei between 1833 and 1835. (another in the series). Each print in the series bears the title 'Contemporary Make-up Mirrors'.
No one seems to agree on the exact date of this print. The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston gives it as the 8th month of 1830. Their dating follows Matsudaira's in Kamigata yakusha-e shūsei , vol. 2 (1998), #263 which gives an even more precise date of 1830, 8 month, 7th day. The Metropolitan Museum gives 1835. Waseda University gives the 5th month of 1834. Between the third and ninth months of 1835, Rikan was apparently on tour. This print might have been issued to commemorate either his departure from or return to Osaka, but the print itself depicts a performance that was actually given in Nagoya in the sixth month'.
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Illustrated in:
1) Stars from the Stage in Osaka: Early 19th-century Japanese Kabuki by Matthi Forrer, p. 64, accompanied by a large black and white illustration. The is also a large color illustration on page 33.
2) Osaka Prints by Dean J. Schwaab, Rizzoli, 1989, #167, p.169.
3) Ikeda Bunko, Kamigata yakusha-e shūsei (Collected Kamigata Actor Prints), vol. 2, Osaka, 1998, no 263.
4) in color in Hokuei: Master of Osaka Kabuki Prints by John Fiorillo, Ludion, 2024, cat. 193, page 113. There is another small color reproduction on page 189.
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There was a 1922 silent film entitled Akogi Heiji.
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In an exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 'Kyoto: Capital of Artistic Imagination', expected to run from July 24, 2019 to September 20, 2020, is the Met's copy of this print.
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There may be at least two or three different editions of this print. This copy in the Lyon Collection is similar to the one in the Met in that the slashing rain drops don't appear in the light colored area at the bottom. They do appear on a light gray background of the copy in Boston. Also, the rain is shown more prominently in the example in the Met than it is in this one in the Lyon Collection.
Honya Seishichi (本屋清七) (publisher)
Arashi Rikan II (二代目嵐璃寛: 9/1828 - 6/1837) (actor)
Kyōto-Osaka prints (kamigata-e - 上方絵) (genre)
actor prints (yakusha-e - 役者絵) (genre)