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Utagawa KUNISADA I (1786 - 1865)		Scene from the play: Kanoshita kage hazama gassen -"The Carp-grappling scene" -
		Signed:                         Toyokuni ga (on each sheet) Date/censor seals:        aratame; 1856, 7th month Publisher:                    Otaya Takichi Size:                              ôban diptych (c. 36 x 49 cms / c. 14 1/8" x 19 1/4");                                        - Two separate sheets as issued. - Condition: SUPERB impression and color, fine condition. ref. no.:  # 763226 - Sold -

This diptych is from a series entitled: Ukiyo hakkei no uchi ('Eight Views of the Floating World'). - The depiction is based on a kabuki play performed at the Morita theater in 1856. The Japanese title of the play is: Konoshita kage hazama gassen. The depicted scene is entitled "The Carp-grappling scene" which was part of a number of very popular kabuki plays: In order to snare a carp that has slipped out of a scroll painting, Konoshitagawa Kosuke (on the left) enters the water, and fights his opponent, Hanyuya Sukeshiro (on the right). When he pierces the eyes of the captured carp with a sword (?), the creature re-enters the scroll held by the painter Ukiyo Matabei who is standing at the nearby shore. The actors are: - Onoe Kikugorô IV (1808-1860) - Bandô Hikosaburô V (1832-1877) - Bandô Takesaburô I? (? - ?) Variations of the scene performed in other kabuki plays are illustrated in: Iwakiri Yuriko / Amy Newland, "Kuniyoshi - Japanese Master of Imagined Worlds", Hotei Publishing, 2013; pp. 76 & 82. (The book is for long sold out; however, we have a copy for sale.)

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