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Kuniyoshi Fashion

(Kuniyoshi moyô shôfuda tsuketari genkin otoko, 国芳もよう正札附現金男)

Publisher: Iba-ya Kyûbei

1845

 

The rather cumbersome title of this series of heroic bust portraits is derived from a contemporary kabuki play Shôfuda tsuki kongen kusazuri.  The backgrounds are a solid color with a short-signed poem.  The prints in this series are each about 14 by 10 inches (36 by 25 centimeters), a size known as ôban.

 

 

Bust portrait: Banzui Chôbei (幡随長兵衛)

Poet: Harunoya Kôichi

Robinson: S40.1

 

Another state of the above design

 

Bust portrait: Danshichi Kurobei (團七九郎兵衛) pouring a bucket of water over himself

Poet: Hôshitei

Robinson: S40.2

 

Image courtesy of Richard Illing

 

Bust portrait: Goshaku Somegorô (五尺染五郎) playing a shakuhachi (bamboo flute)

Poet: Umeya

Robinson: S40.3

 

 

 

Another state of the above design

 

Bust portrait: Nozarashi Gosuke (野晒悟助) in a robe of skulls made up of cats and carrying a long sword with a skull-like wooden sandal attached

Poet: Ryûkatei Tanekazu

Robinson: S40.4

 

Another state of the above design

 

Bust portrait: The sumô wrestler Nuregami Chôgorô (濡髪蝶五郎) holding a pipe

Poet: Rôshô

Robinson: S40.5

 

Bust portrait: Shirai Gompachi (白井権八) holding a spotted scarf over his shoulders with a shakuhachi (bamboo flute) tucked in the back of his girdle

Poet: Ryûkatei Tanekazu

Robinson: S40.6

 

Bust portrait: Teranishi Kanshin (寺西感心) holding an open fan

Poet: Gosônoya of Ise

Robinson: S40.7

 

Another state of the above design

 

Bust portrait: Tôken Gombei (唐犬権兵衛) looking in a mirror and wearing a kimono decorated with scenes of hell

Poet: Takaraya Masuo

Robinson: S40.8

 

Bust portrait: Ude Kisaburô ( 喜三郎) with a grim face and folded arms

Poet: Kunoya Umeki

Robinson: S40.9

 

 

Bust portrait: Ume no Yoshibei ( 由兵衛) glaring with his hands on the hilt of his sword

Poet: Umeya

Robinson: S40.10

 

“Robinson” refers to listing in Kuniyoshi: The Warrior-Prints by Basil William Robinson (Cornell University Press, Ithaca, NY, 1982) and its privately published supplement.

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