Iwai Hanshiro V as Ishikawa Masagoji (Goemon); Ichikawa Danjuro VII as Mashiba Hisayoshi (Hideyoshi); and Nakamura Daikichi III as O-Shizu, from the play: Footman, Footman, the Flowery Spears

Iwai Hanshiro V as Ishikawa Masagoji (Goemon); Ichikawa Danjuro VII as Mashiba Hisayoshi (Hideyoshi); and Nakamura Daikichi III as O-Shizu, from the play: Footman, Footman, the Flowery Spears

Artist Utagawa Kunisada (Toyokuni III) (Japanese, 1786–1864)

Datecommissioned for New Year 1820, Year of the Dragon

MediumThree color woodblock prints

DimensionsPart a: 8 3/16 × 7 1/2 inches (20.8 × 19.1 cm);
Part b: 8 1/8 × 7 3/16 inches (20.6 × 18.3 cm);
Part c: 8 3/8 × 7 3/8 inches (21.3 × 18.7 cm)

ClassificationsPrints

Credit LineGift of Joanna Haab Schoff, Class of 1955

Terms

Surimono
Color woodblock print
Actors
Kabuki
Poetry
Japanese

Object number2011.017.030 a-c

Label CopyHisayoshi no Kita no kata naru Shinano ume Sanmon yori no Takaku kaoran Hisayoshi’s consort The plum of Shinano Whose fragrance rises Higher than The three-tiered temple gate —Rankuntei Hyo ¯tan no Sen naritayano Homuru to wa Senryo ¯yakusha Senkin no haru That we praise Danju-ro- With his thousand gourds Is because he is A thousand ryo ¯ actor In a thousand-gold-piece spring —Shibaen Morizuna Toshidama ni O ¯gi mo mitsumi Ashida tote Egao wo miseru Haru no Yamatoya As New Year gifts He sets his eyes on a round fan Or even if it’s high-heeled geta He’ll show his smiling face Iwai Hanshiro-in spring —Yamakawa Shirozake As in a number of kabuki plays, Yakko Yakko Edo no Hanayari incorporates politically forbidden material by manipulating the names and settings of its characters. Here, Mashiba Hisayoshi is a fairly transparent cover for Hashiba (Toyotomi) Hideyoshi, the pre-Tokugawa Era warlord who did so much to unify Japan, only to have the Tokugawa clan ultimately take the benefit, killing his heir in ????. The gourds on his robe are Hideyoshi’s symbol, confirming what the similarity of names suggests. Injudicious or overt reference to Hideyoshi in the Tokugawa Era could be politically dangerous, as the popular printmaker Utamaro discovered in ????, when he was arrested for designing some less than flattering prints of Hideyoshi. In this play by Segawa Joko-II, some of the attention is taken off of the Hideyoshi figure by the inclusion of Ishikawa Goemon, the infamous late-sixteenth-century thief who appears in many kabuki plays, but here as a woman, Ishikawa Masagoji. In the play, Masagoji acts as a courtesan who is in fact the daughter of Hideyoshi’s archenemy Akechi Mitsuhide, intent on killing her father’s nemesis. The poems, while loosely referencing the content, costumes, and settings of the play, are largely in praise of the leading actors, referring to them by their yago (“sponsor names”): Naritaya for Danju-ro-, and Yamatoya for Hanshiro-. Danju-ro-’s excellence is stressed through reference to his salary, “a thousand ryo ¯ actor” implying a huge star, while Hanshiro-V’s famous eyes and bright expressions are emphasized in the verse beside him. Ashida was a kind of feminine footwear with high supports—literally called “teeth”—embedded, perhaps referencing his toothy smile.

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