Migita Toshihide (右田年英) (artist 1863 – 1925)
Ichikawa Danjūrō IX in the role of Kuzunoha (葛の葉) from the series Sanshō awase sugata (三升合姿)
1893
9.375 in x 14 in (Overall dimensions) Japanese woodblock print
Signed: Toshihide (年英)
Artist's seal in red: 年英
Publisher: Sasaki Toyokichi (Marks 450)
Waseda University
Waseda University - Yoshitoshi print of the same character
Waseda University - an earlier example by Kuniaki
Lyon Collection - another print from this series
Lyon Collection - Otokonosuke from this series There may be up to 27 prints in this series. Three of them are in the Lyon Collection.
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Samuel L. Leiter gave a summary of the play/character of Kuzunoha in the New Kabuki Encyclopedia: A Revised Adaptation of the Kabuki Jiten on pages 26-27:
[Kuzu no ha (Kowakare) is] "...the most famous of several dramatizations of the famous "Shinodazuma" legend about how the noted diviner Abe no Seimei was born as the son of Abe Yasuna and a white fox of the Shinoda Forest in Izumi. (It belongs to the category of fiction called irui konin banashi, or "tales of marriage between animals and humans.") It combines elements of several earlier puppet and kabuki plays, going back to 1678, dealing with similar material. Although the complete play actually concerns dynastic problems... the only part that has become permanent is the fourth act's touching child separation (kowakare) scene, known as "Kuzu no Ha Kowakare no Dan," after its chief character. The play was originally written for the puppets, but it was adapted by kabuki in 1735 at Kyoto's Tomijūrō-za, and in 1737 at Edo's Nakamura-za, starring Arashi Sanemon III as Yasuna and Tomizawa Montarō as Kuzu no Ha. Its Osaka debut was in 1748 at the Kado-za. The original play's second act, "Kosode Monogurui," is the source of the notable kiyomoto dance Yasuna."
"The action preceding the "Kuzu no Ha" scene concerns a rivalry between two pupils of the late diviner Kamo Yasunori over who should inherit his book of astronomy secrets, "Kinu Gyoki Toshū." One pupil is Abe no Yasuna, the other is Ashiya Michitaru. They are enmeshed in the plots of certain villains. When the book is stolen, Yasunori's daughter, Sakaki no Mae, Abe no Yasuna's sweetheart, kills herself. Yasuna, driven mad by his grief, begins to wander aimlessly, clutching her kimono (kosode). (This action forms the basis of Yasuna.) When, on arriving at the village of Shinoda, he sees her sister, Princess Kuzu no Ha, who closely resembles her, and who knows of Sakaki no Mae's death, he regains his sanity and falls in love with her. But the wicked Ishikawa Akuemon also desires Kuzu no Ha, his cousin, who has rejected him. While Akuemon is hunting in nearby Shinoda Forest for a white fox whose blood is needed by his master, Yasuna saves the fox from danger, leading to his being beaten by Akuemon and his servants. Grateful for its life having been saved, the fox transforms itself into the image of Kuzu no Ha, prevents Yasuna from killing himself, and marries him. They live together happily at Abeno, and have a child who is five when the "Kuzu no Ha" scene begins."
"One day, the real Kuzu no Ha, who has been living in a remote village with her parents, hiding from Akuemon, arrives with them. The surprised Fox-Kuzu no Ha, who has become a cotton weaver, realizes she must leave. She tells Yasuna the truth and asks her son to treat the human Kuzu no Ha as his actual mother. In a moving "lamentation" (kudoki) scene of farewell with her child, she departs after writing a waka poem on the shōji screens: "If you love me, you will seek me in Izumi's Shinoda Forest. Kuzu no Ha." (koshikuba tazunete kite miyo Shinoda no mori urami Kuzu no Ha). Eventually, in later action, the human Kuzu no Ha and Yasuna raise the child and the latter, grown up, becomes the great diviner Abe no Seimei."
"Customarily, the same actor, using quick changes, plays both Kuzu no Ha roles, which are an important test of the onnagata's ability. One of the most memorable moments occurs when the Fox-Kuzu no Ha, writes the poem, done with brushes held in the mouth, both hands, and the left hand alone, a keren trick suggesting the character's magical animal-nature. Nor only must the writing be done in these unusual ways, but the calligraphy must be first-rate. Bunraku's three-man system of puppet manipulation , invented by Yoshida Bunzaburō, began with this play's first production."
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John Davidson in his Yoshitoshi's Thirty-Six Ghosts wrote a slightly different account of Kuzunoha on page 58:
"Foxes, or kitsune, are mysterious, magical creatures with powers many times greater than those of badgers. Sometimes well disposed to men, they are more often malicious and dangerous. A fox is guardian of the rice crop and messenger of Inari, god of harvests. At the age of a hundred a fox's spirit can possess human beings, causing insanity, and can assume human form at will. At the age of a thousand it grows nine tails, turns golden, and attains great wisdom."
"A charming tale of a fox transformation relates to Abe no Yasuna, a tenth-century nobleman. Abe was out walking one day, reciting poems in the gardens of the Inari temple outside Kyoto, when a group of men dashed by in pursuit of a fox which they were hunting for its liver, then used as a medicine. The fox ran into the gardens and stopped in front of Abe, a mute appeal in its eyes. Abe quickly hid the fox in his robes, and the hunting party rushed on."
"Soon after, Abe met and married a beautiful young girl name Kuzunoha. She bore him a son and they lived happily together for three years. She then died of a fever (or simply left him - the story varies), appearing in a dream three days later to tell him not to mourn her as she was not human but the vixen whose life he had saved. She left a poem written on a sliding screen: "If you think of me with love, come seek me in the forests of Shinoda, and you will find a kudzu leaf" (kuzu-no-ha, a pun on her name). For this she is often depicted as a fox with a writing brush in its mouth."
"Yoshitoshi has imaginatively adapted the tradition that reflections and shadows show the true nature of a supernatural creature. The shadow of Kuzunoha's fox muzzle falls on the translucent paper of the sliding screens as she walks into the palace, her little boy tugging at her kimono. This boy grew up to be the famous astrologer, Abe no Seimei, who cured Emperor Toba of a spell cast by his favorite concubine Tamamo no Mae, or "Jewel Maiden," herself a nine-tailed fox."
Sasaki Toyokichi (佐々木豊吉) (publisher)
Ichikawa Danjūrō IX (九代目市川團十郞: July 1874 to 1903) (actor)
Meiji era (明治時代: 1868-1912) (genre)
Yūrei-zu (幽霊図 - ghosts demons monsters and spirits) (genre)