Signed: eshi Torii Kiyonobu hitsu; Publisher: hanmoto Ōdenma sanchōme Yamamoto and (logo) yama (Maruya Kōhei); hosoban, 32.1 x 15.2 cm; urushi-e

This famous print from the collection of Julius Kurth is the only one of these yakusha-e to have survived. It depicts Ichikawa Ebizō II as Soga no Gorō sharpening an enormous arrow in the first scene of the play Ya-no-ne (“Arrowhead”). The big sword above him is an indication of the dramatic highpoint, since the two Soga brothers will later use this weapon to take revenge on their father’s murderer Kudō Suketsune.

Provenance: Julius Kurth Geyger, inv.no.16413 (KG p.100 / KGE p.102)

This actor was one of the most important onnagata performers of his time. Originally he came from the stage of the Dôtombori district in Ôsaka. From 1712 he played female figures, but did not receive any special attention until his thirtieth year. He even turned his back on the stage for a while, and adopted a middle-class profession. But in 1720 he returned to the theatre. For ten years he played as a zamoto at various Kamigata theatres. In 1730 he came to Tôkyô (Edo); from 1737-1741 he played outside the capital. Kikunojô also lived as a woman in his private life. In a work fundamental to the school of Kabuki, he wrote down his thoughts on playing women. It bears the title onnagata hidden (“The secrets of onnagata”). This work also contains his thoughts on the stage dance (shosagoto), giving guidelines for dance musicals such as Muken-no-kane or Shakkyô Dôjôji, on the basis of which a form was adopted that is still valid today.

Our sheet was produced on the occasion of his farewell performance on leaving Edo. He was then over forty-five years old. The dance known as the Shinoda Dance must have received special acclaim from his contemporaries, for Kiyonobu II created at least three different versions at three different publishing houses.

This actor was one of the most important onnagata performers of his time. Originally he came from the stage of the Dôtombori district in Ôsaka. From 1712 he played female figures, but did not receive any special attention until his thirtieth year. He even turned his back on the stage for a while, and adopted a middle-class profession. But in 1720 he returned to the theatre. For ten years he played as a zamoto at various Kamigata theatres. In 1730 he came to Tôkyô (Edo); from 1737-1741 he played outside the capital. Kikunojô also lived as a woman in his private life. In a work fundamental to the school of Kabuki, he wrote down his thoughts on playing women. It bears the title onnagata hidden (“The secrets of onnagata”). This work also contains his thoughts on the stage dance (shosagoto), giving guidelines for dance musicals such as Muken-no-kane or Shakkyô Dôjôji, on the basis of which a form was adopted that is still valid today.

Our sheet was produced on the occasion of his farewell performance on leaving Edo. He was then over forty-five years old. The dance known as the Shinoda Dance must have received special acclaim from his contemporaries, for Kiyonobu II created at least three different versions at three different publishing houses.

Torii Kiyonobu II (active ca. 1720- ca. 1760): Kiyonobu II may have been the son of the older Kiyonobu who took over his father’s name at the latter’s death. It is very hard to distinguish between late works of the old master and the early works of his son. Subsequently Kiyonobu II developed his own graceful, reserved style, which is, however, in its turn hard to distinguish from works by Kiyomasu II. Kiyonobu II’s life extended into the period of benizuri-printing, which made the weaknesses of his compositions more evident than in the previous hand-coloured urushi-e.

This famous leaf comes from the collection of Julius Kurth, who reproduced it in his two important publications of 1921 and 1922. He attributed the print to Torii, Kiyonobu I. Meanwhile research supports an attribution to Torii, Kiyonobu II. It is the only known impression of this woodblock.

The actor Danjûrô II (1688-1758) played Soga, Gorô Tokimune, the younger of the two Soga Brothers. The revenge of the two brothers, Soga, Jûrô Sukenari and Soga, Gorô Tokimune on Kudô Suketsune, who had murdered their father in 1177 in the mountains of Hakone, is one of the episodes of the civil wars between the Taira and Minamoto in the 12th c. The two brothers waited until they were adult, finally attacked their father’s murderer in 1193 in a hunters’ camp, and killed him. For this deed they were put to death by Minamoto, Yoritomo, commander-in-chief of the army and victor in the civil war.

The history of this vendetta (Soga-kyôdai) is one of Kabuki’s best-loved themes, and has provided the material for innumerable dramas. Danjûrô II had already played Gorô in 1708 at the age of twenty, but he first created the interpretation shown here in 1729. Entitled Ya-no-ne (Arrow Head), his performance was originally only one scene in the drama Koizume Sumida-gawa (Love Trade at the Sumida River). Ya-no-ne is today an independent play; one of the eighteen famous plays by the Ichikawa family, performed as early as the 18th c. to open the second half of the season at the beginning of the year. It is not so much the dramatic story, which nowadays still provokes theatre enthusiasts to rounds of ecstatic applause. The print shows the opening moment. Soga, Gorô is sharpening an enormous arrow on a whetstone in a cask filled with water. He is preparing himself for the destruction of his mortal enemy. Behind him there is a stand containing large arrows held upright. Above him there is a blossoming plum branch indicating the season, and a mighty sword in a stand. This is the sword with which he will later slay Kudô, Suketsune, after awaking the sleeping enemy with the cry: “The Soga Brothers have come to take their revenge.”

Danjûrô II is dressed in full armour. Over this he has put on a robe, the upper part of which bears stylized clouds, while the lower part- almost completely hidden under the folds- is decorated with crayfish (ebi).

Danjûrô II had passed his name on to his adopted son in 1735 and called himself Ebizô, as can be read on the inscription “Ichikawa Ebizô.” The butterfly (also half hidden) and tea blossoms under a roof on the black upper robe are the crests of the Soga. A long apron bears the crest of the Ichikawa: rice measures, one inside the other. This crest is repeated as the hilt (tsuba) of the sword (tachi) hung overhead. The billowing sleeves demonstrate the actor’s energetic movements.

In addition to the woodblock print reproduced here, Kiyonobu II also painted a votive picture (ema) of Danjûrô II in this role for the Saidai-ji temple in Nara.