Shunkosai Hokushu (active circa 1810-32)
The actor Nakamura Utaemon III in the role of Mino no Shokuro, 1823, first month
Woodblock print, surimono, embellished with metallic pigments and embossing
Vertical oban:
35.9 x 24.7 cm.
14 1/8 x 9 3/4 in.
35.9 x 24.7 cm.
14 1/8 x 9 3/4 in.
Signed: Shunkosai Hokushu
Privately published, 1823, 1st month
Privately published, 1823, 1st month
Sold
A smoking pipe lies beside a tobacco pouch decorated with a portrait of the actor Nakamura Utaemon III. He is playing the role of Mino no Shokuro in the play...
A smoking pipe lies beside a tobacco pouch decorated with a portrait of the actor Nakamura Utaemon III. He is playing the role of Mino no Shokuro in the play Keisei Omonguchi (The Great Gate of the Licensed Quarters), performed at the Kado theatre in Osaka, in January 1823.
The two poems are by Shikan and Sanko, who were both disciples of Nakamura Utaemon III. It has been suggested by the academic Mr Susumu Matsudaira (d. 2000) in a letter that accompanies the print, that when Utaemon played this role, a fan might have commissioned this surimono, asking the two actors to compose poems and Hokushu the portrait.
The two poems above have been translated by Roger Keyes in a hand-written letter which also accompanies this print:
Iroiro ni
Kasumi aredomo
asa hinode
Somehow
even through the mist
the sun rises
--- by Shikan (Nakamura Utaemon IV)
Jubun ni
asobite kaeru
kocho kana
The butterfly
plays awhile and
then returns
--- by Sanko (Tomijuro II)
The two poems are by Shikan and Sanko, who were both disciples of Nakamura Utaemon III. It has been suggested by the academic Mr Susumu Matsudaira (d. 2000) in a letter that accompanies the print, that when Utaemon played this role, a fan might have commissioned this surimono, asking the two actors to compose poems and Hokushu the portrait.
The two poems above have been translated by Roger Keyes in a hand-written letter which also accompanies this print:
Iroiro ni
Kasumi aredomo
asa hinode
Somehow
even through the mist
the sun rises
--- by Shikan (Nakamura Utaemon IV)
Jubun ni
asobite kaeru
kocho kana
The butterfly
plays awhile and
then returns
--- by Sanko (Tomijuro II)