Ichikawa Danjuro VII as Arijishi Otokonosuke, from the play: The Celebrated Bush Clover of Sendai

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

Datecommissioned for New Year 1828, Year of the Rat

MediumColor woodblock print

Dimensions8 1/4 × 7 5/16 inches (21 × 18.6 cm)

ClassificationsPrints

Credit LineGift of Joanna Haab Schoff, Class of 1955

Terms

Surimono
Color woodblock print
Actors
Kabuki
Poetry
Japanese

Object number2011.017.033

Label CopyTawamurete Yanagi no nezumi To ¯to utsu Kodomo reisha no Toshidama o ¯gi Frolicking about The child celebrants Shout as they strike at The mice in the willow tree With their New Year gift fans —Bunkaisha Nanki Toshidama no O ¯gini soete Kado reisha Torichirashitaru Nezumi hangiri Along with a New Year gift Fan, this celebrant At the gate Has strewn about him Sheets of mouse-gray paper, cut half-sized —Bunkaisha Hazemaru O ¯saka ni Sakuya kabuki no Fukamigusa Edo no neoi no Hana no oyadama In Osaka blooms This “deeply seen grass” Of kabuki Chief among flowers With its roots in Edo —Goryu ¯tei Tokusho ¯ The play Meiboku Sendai Hagi concerns a succession dispute in the daimyo ¯ house of the Date Clan in Sendai. The loyal retainer Arijishi Otokonosuke, depicted here in a mie pose of emotional intensity, is standing watch over the beleaguered young lord who is rightfully next in succession when he sees a giant rat emerging from the boy’s room, a roll of paper in its mouth. He tries to slay the rat with his iron fan, but the wounded animal escapes his grasp. When he pursues it, he finds in its place his superior Nikki Danjo, his villainous rival with occult powers, dressed in gray robes and with a cut on his forehead, tracing the character for rat in the air. Otokonosuke, of lower rank, is powerless to do anything more against him, and through his magic Danjo thus succeeds in stealing a list of conspirators loyal to the young lord. The first two poems refer to this scene in a playful manner in relation to the New Year, with the iron fan as a toshidama, or New Year gift (usually of money, kane, homophonous with metal). The half-sized sheets (hangiri) of gray paper in the second verse imply the desired destruction of the scroll, as well as of the rat that stole it, while at the more literal level they may refer to written New Year’s greetings, or surimono, which the visitor at the gate has dropped. The third poem suggests that this performance takes place in Osaka, where there was also a vibrantly active theater scene. Fukamigusa (“deeply seen grass”) is an alternate name for the peony, the symbol of Ichikawa Danju-ro-, who, although “rooted” in Edo, is said to bloom now in Osaka. The word oyadama (literally “parent jewel”), like toshidama, contains the word “jewel,” a reference to the New Year, while referring to the boss of a group or gang.

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