Actor triptychs

1848, Part III

Actors: Bandô Shuka I as Shogen’s daughter Omitsu (将監娘おみつ, left) and Ichikawa Danjûrô VIII as Kano Shirojirô Motonobu (狩野四郎次郎元信, right)

Play: Mukashigatari inazuma zoshi (昔語稲妻帖)

Date: 3^rd month of 1848

Theater: Ichimura

Publisher: Minato-ya Kohei

Actors: Left sheet: Ichikawa Kodanji IV as Shikakura (鹿蔵) and a child actor as the kamuro Shikazô (才三郎)

Center sheet: Ichimura Uzaemon XII as Nagoya Sensaburô (名古屋山三郎)

Right sheet: Ichikawa Danjûrô VIII as Fuwa Banzaemon (不破伴左ェ門)

Play: Mukashigatari inazuma zoshi (昔語稲妻帖)

Date: 3^rd month of 1848 (censors Mera and Murata)

Theater: Ichimura

Publisher: Nomura-ya Tokubei

I am grateful to Lucienne Parkan for this image.

Actors: Left Sheet: Bandô Shûka I as Shogen’s daughter Omitsu and Bandô Mitsugorô IV as Tosano Shokan (土佐の将監)

Right sheet: Ichikawa Danjûrô VIII as Kano Shirojirô Motonobu (brown skirt) and Nakayama Bungorô II as Hasebe Unkoku (長谷部雲谷)

Play: Mukashigatari inazuma zoshi (昔語稲妻帖)

Date: 3^rd month of 1848 (censors Hama and Kinugasa)

Theater: Ichimura

Publisher: Ningyô-ya Takichi

Actors: Ichikawa Danjûrô VIII as Fuwa Banzaemon (不破伴左衛門, left), Bandô Shuka I as O-kuni (いづみやお国, center), and Ichimura Uzaemon XII as Nagoya Sensaburô (名古屋山三郎, right)

Play: Mukashigatari inazuma zoshi (昔語稲妻帖)

Date: 3^rd month of 1848

Theater: Ichimura

Publisher: Tama-ya Sôsuke

NOTE: Fuwa Banzaemon’s sword is named “Thunder” and he wears a kimono decorated with a pattern of lightning-in-the-clouds; his rival Nagoya Sanzaburô carries a sword named “Amorous Swallows” and wears a kimono decorated with a pattern of swallows-in-the-rain.

Actors: Ichimura Uzaemon XII as Nagoya Sensaburô (名古屋山三郎, left) and Ichikawa Danjûrô VIII as Fuwa Banzaemon (不破伴左衛門, right)

Play: Mukashigatari inazuma zoshi (昔語稲妻帖)

Date: 3^rd month of 1848

Theater: Ichimura

Publisher: Minato-ya Kohei

Another diptych from the same production; only the background has been changed

Date: 3^rd month of 1848

Theater: Ichimura

Publisher: Minato-ya Kohei

Actors: Ichimura Uzaemon XII as Nagoya Sensaburô (名古屋山三郎, left) and Ichikawa Danjûrô VIII as Fuwa Banzaemon (不破伴左ェ門, right)

Play: Mukashigatari inazuma zoshi (昔語稲妻帖)

Date: 3^rd month of 1848

Theater: Ichimura

Publisher: Ise-ya Bunshichi

Actors: Ichimura Uzaemon XII as Nagoya Sensaburô (名古屋山三元春, left), Bandô Shuka I as the tayû (prostitute of the highest rank) Katsuragi (葛城 大夫, center), and Ichikawa Danjûrô VIII as Fuwa Banzaemon (不破伴左衛門, right)

Play: Mukashigatari inazuma zoshi (昔語稲妻帖)

Date: 3^rd month of 1848 (censors Muramatsu and Yoshimura)

Theater: Ichimura

Publisher: Jôshû-ya Kinzô

I am grateful to Ward Pieters for the center and right sheets.

Actors: Ichikawa Danjûrô VIII as Fuwa Banzaemon (left), Ichimura Uzaemon XII as Nagoya Sensaburô (名古屋山三郎, center) and Bandô Shuka I as Katsuragi (こし元桂木, right)

Play: Mukashigatari inazuma zoshi (昔語稲妻帖)

Date: 3^rd month of 1848

Theater: Ichimura

Publisher: Jôshû-ya Jûzô

Two sheets from another state of the above triptych

Actors: Ichikawa Danjûrô VIII as Katsuragi’s lover Fuwa Banzaemon (不破伴左衛門, left), Bandô Shuka I as the courtesan Katsuragi (かつらき, center), and Ichimura Uzaemon XII as Katsuragi’s husband Nagoya Sensaburô (名古屋山三郎, right)

Play: Mukashigatari inazuma zoshi (昔語稲妻帖)

Date: 3^rd month of 1848 (censors Mera and Murata)

Theater: Ichimura

Publisher: Wakasa-ya Uhei

Actors: Bandô Shuka I as the gejô (maid servant) O-kuni (下女 おく, left), Ichimura Uzaemon XII as Nagoya Sensaburô (名古屋山三郎, center), and Ichikawa Danjûrô VIII as Fuwa Banzaemon (不破伴左衛門, right)

Play: Mukashigatari inazuma zoshi (昔語稲妻帖)

Date: 3^rd month of 1848

Theater: Ichimura

Publisher: Daikoku-ya Heikichi

Actors: Bandô Shuka I as Izumoya O-kuni (いつもや於くに, left), Ichimura Uzaemon XII as Nagoya Sensaburô (名古屋山三郎, center), and Ichikawa Danjûrô VIII as Fuwa Banzaemon (不波伴左エ門, right)

Play: Mukashigatari inazuma zoshi (昔語稲妻帖)

Date: 3^rd month of 1848 (censors Mera and Murata)

Theater: Ichimura

Publisher: Tsujioka-ya Bunsuke

NOTE: The woodblocks for this triptych were reused, with altered faces, for the production of Date kurabe uwasa no sayaate (伊達競高評鞘当) in the 1^st month of 1851.

Actors: Ichimura Uzaemon XII as Nagoya Sensaburô (名古屋山三郎, left), Ichikawa Kodanji IV as yakko Kohei (奴岡平, center), and Ichikawa Danjûrô VIII as Fuwa Banzaemon (不波伴左衛門, right)

Play: Mukashigatari inazuma zoshi (昔語稲妻帖)

Date: 3^rd month of 1848 (censors Murmatsu and Yoshimura)

Theater: Ichimura

Publisher: Enshû-ya Matabei

NOTE: Naming Ichikawa Kodanjiʼs character yakko Kohei (奴岡平) demonstrates the practice of naming yakko (male servants, 奴) in kabuki productions with the first kanji of the actorʼs given name followed by “heiˮ (平).

Actors: Ichikawa Kodanji IV as fox (kitsune) Tadanobu (狐忠信, left), Bandô Shûka I as Shizuka Gozen (静御前, center), and Ichikawa Danjûrô VIII as Minamoto Yoshitsune (源義経, right)

Play: Yoshitsune Senbon zakura (義経千本桜)

Date: 3^rd month of 1848 (censors Muramatsu and Yoshimura)

Theater: Ichimura

Publisher: Kawaguchi-ya Uhei

I am grateful to Lucienne Parkan for locating this image.

Actors: Left sheet: Ichikawa Kodanji IV as kitsune Tadanobu (狐忠信)

Right sheet: Ichikawa Danjûrô VIII as Minamoto Yoshitsune (源よしつね, standing) and Bandô Shuka I as Shizuka gozen (しづか御ぜん)

Play: Yoshitsune Senbon zakura (義経千本桜)

Date: 3^rd month of 1848 (censors Muramatsu and Yoshimura)

Theater: Ichimura

Publisher: Yoshi

Actors: Ichikawa Kodanji IV as kitsune Tadanobu (狐忠信, top), Ichikawa Danjûrô VIII as Minamoto Yoshitsune (源よしつね, standing) and Bandô Shuka I as Shizuka gozen (しづか御ぜん, woman)

Play: Yoshitsune Senbon zakura (義経千本桜)

Date: 3^rd month of 1848 (censors Muramatsu and Yoshimura)

Theater: Ichimura

Publisher: Iba-ya Sensaburô

Actors: Ichikawa Kodanji IV as kitsune Tadanobu (源九郎狐, left), Bandô Shuka I as Shizuka gozen (しづか御ぜん, center), and Ichikawa Danjûrô VIII as Minamoto Yoshitsune (源よしつね, right)

Play: Yoshitsune Senbon zakura (義経千本桜)

Date: 3^rd month of 1848 (censors Mera and Murata)

Theater: Ichimura

Publisher: Ta (phonetic pronunciation of 太)

Actors: Bandô Shuka I as Shizuka gozen (しづか御ぜん, left), Ichikawa Kodanji IV as kitsune Tadanobu (狐忠信, center), and Ichikawa Danjûrô VIII as Minamoto Yoshitsune (源義経, right)

Play: Yoshitsune Senbon zakura (義経千本桜)

Date: 3^rd month of 1848 (censors Muramatsu and Yoshimura)

Theater: Ichimura

Publisher: Koga-ya Katsugorô

NOTE: Two different seals of the publisher Koga-ya Katsugorô appear on this triptych, and .

I am grateful to Robert Pryor for this alternate state of a sheet from the above triptych.

Diptych title: Twilight Ken (Yûgure ken)

Play: Probably from a dance interlude accompanying Kamakura yamasakura no gosho zome

Description: Ôban diptych of actors in female roles playing ken during a kabuki musical interlude. The portraits in the two circles are Sawamura Chôjûrô V as Meshitsukai Ohatsu (召仕お初, left) and Onoe Baikô IV as chûrô Onoe (中老尾上, right). The following actors are displayed (from left to right):

Onoe: Onoe Kikugorô IV

Yadorigi: unknown

Ushijima Chikara: unknown

Iwafuji: Matsumoto Kinshô I

Yokobue: Ôtani Tomoemon IV

Yomogifu: Seki Sanjûrô III

E-awase: Nakayama Genjûrô

Ohatsu: Sawamura Sôjûrô V

Tokonatsu: unknown

Akashi: Ôtani Hiroemon V

Date: 3^rd month of 1848 (censors Muramatsu and Yoshimura)

Publisher: Iba-ya Sensaburô

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