KUNICHIKA • Kawarazaki Sanshō as Benkei • 1869 Ōkubi-e Japanese Woodblock Print - Japan - Meiji period (1868-1912)

** A portrait of the future Danjūrō IX in his family's signature role, from Kunichika's 1869 ōkubi-e series. An impression of this design is held in the National Museum of Asian Art (Smithsonian), Washington. Kunichika’s ōkubi-e prints are considered among his highest achievements and are much sought after. The market prices them accordingly: a sheet from this series in pristine condition sells for around ¥200,000 on the internatioanl market **

Artist: Toyohara Kunichika (豊原国周, 1835–1900)
Title: Kanjinchō, Sanshō (勧進帳 三升) — the actor Kawarazaki Sanshō (later Ichikawa Danjūrō IX) as Benkei in Kanjinchō
Series: Untitled series of ōkubi-e (large-head) actor portraits

Publisher: Gusokuya Kahei (具足屋嘉兵衛) — seal Ningyōchō Gusokuya, lower left, with date and censor seal
Carver: Ōta (彫工 太田), seal beside the signature
Date: 1869 (Meiji 2, year of the snake)
Technique: Nishiki-e woodblock print on paper
Format: Ōban tate-e; approx. 36*25 cm
________________________________________

Condition: A fine impression with well saturated colours. The keyblocks lines of the face and features read clearly; overall the composition is well preserved. There is a minor soiling area the upper left margin otherwise sound and clean. Please check the images!
________________________________________

Benkei at the Barrier — The Danjūrō Family's Role:

Kunichika fills the whole sheet with the head of Benkei, the warrior-monk of Kanjinchō. He wears the small black cap (tokin) of a mountain ascetic, tied under the chin with a white cord; his brows are drawn together and his eyes are turned in a fierce, crossed glare. It is the look of a kabuki mie — the frozen pose an actor holds at the height of a scene.

In the play, Benkei helps the warrior Minamoto Yoshitsune escape his brother's forces. The party is disguised as itinerant monks collecting donations for a temple, and at the Ataka barrier the official Togashi challenges them. Benkei reads out a "subscription list" from what is in fact a blank scroll, improvising the names and sums so convincingly that Togashi lets them pass.

Kanjinchō belongs to the Ichikawa Danjūrō line, and Benkei is its central role. The cartouche names the actor as Sanshō (三升) — the same characters as mimasu, the three nested rice measures that are the Danjūrō crest. Kunichika repeats the crest in the green border of nested lines that frames the portrait.
________________________________________

The Future Danjūrō IX, in Kunichika's Big-Head Series of 1869

The actor is Kawarazaki Sanshō (1838–1903), who performed under the Kawarazaki names in the 1860s and later took the name Ichikawa Danjūrō IX, becoming the dominant actor of the Meiji stage. He and Kunichika later formed a close professional alliance. In 1869 he was still some years from the Danjūrō name — this portrait shows him in his family's central role before he took it.

The print belongs to an untitled series of ōkubi-e portraits of leading actors, of which Gusokuya Kahei published more than twenty designs within six months in 1869. Each portrait is framed by a border derived from the actor's crest. The close cropping, the head pushed to the edges of the sheet and the strong patterned colour are typical of the series and of Kunichika's early Meiji actor prints
________________________________________

Toyohara Kunichika — The Leading Actor-Print Designer of Meiji

Toyohara Kunichika (1835–1900) was the foremost designer of kabuki actor prints (yakusha-e) in the Meiji era. He spent much of his time in the theatre world, sketching actors backstage and watching performances, and his portraits reflect that closeness to the stage. His pupils included Yōshū Chikanobu and Morikawa Chikashige.