Toyokuni I (Rare) – Matsumoto Kōshirō V as the Poet Henjō – Mitate yakusha rokkasen, – c. 1825–26 - Japan - Edo Period (1600-1868)

** Sheet no. 1 of the series · “Big-nosed Kōshirō” with his own parody poem · kiwame censor seal **

Artist: Utagawa Toyokuni I 歌川豊国 (1769–1825)
Series: Mitate yakusha rokkasen 見立役者六歌仙 (Actors as the Six Poetic Immortals)

Title: Henjō, Kinshō 遍昭 錦升 – the actor Matsumoto Kōshirō V (poetry name Kinshō) as the poet-monk Henjō
Sheet: No. 1 (一) of the series
Date: c. 1825–1826 (Bunsei 8–9)
Signature: 豊国画 (Toyokuni ga)
Censor seal: kiwame 極
Poem: signed by the actor, Matsumoto Kinshō, with seal
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Condition: A fine impression with well perserved colours. The keyblocks lines of the face and features read clearly; overall the composition is well preserved. There are 3 repairs noted on the sheet and minor trimming on the right margin. The paper remains firm. Please check the images carefully before bidding!
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About the print:

The Six Poetic Immortals (Rokkasen) are the six great poets of the early Heian period named in the preface to the Kokinshū anthology of 905. Henjō (816–890) was a courtier who became a Buddhist monk after the death of Emperor Ninmyō. His best-known poem, no. 12 in the Hundred Poets anthology (Hyakunin isshu), begins “Amatsukaze…”, “O winds of heaven…”. He asks the wind to close the cloud paths so the heavenly dancers cannot leave.

In this series each of the six poets is played by a leading Edo actor. “Mitate” means an imagined casting: the prints show the actors as the poets, not a role from an actual stage performance. Each sheet carries a short comic poem by the actor himself. The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston records the poem on this sheet as 天津風われらが鼻に梅かほれ: “Winds of heaven, carry the scent of plum blossom to our noses.” It is signed by Matsumoto Kōshirō V under his poetry name, Shūyatei Kinshō.

The joke is a parody of Henjō’s famous opening line, turned into a joke about the actor’s own face. Matsumoto Kōshirō V (1764–1838) was the great villain actor of his generation, and Edo audiences knew him as “Hana Kōshirō,” big-nosed Kōshirō. His prominent nose was his trademark, and he jokes about it here himself.
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About the series

Mitate yakusha rokkasen is a set of six numbered sheets. It pairs Kōshirō V as Henjō with the leading actors of the day: Segawa Kikunojō V as Komachi, Onoe Kikugorō III as Narihira, Bandō Mitsugorō III as Kisen and Seki Sanjūrō II as Yasuhide. It belongs to the last months of Toyokuni I’s life. He died early in 1825, and the Museum of Fine Arts holds both a version dated 1825 and a version from the 11th month of 1826, signed “Ko Toyokuni ga,” “by the late Toyokuni.”

Impressions of the series are held by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (William Sturgis Bigelow Collection) and the Waseda University Theatre Museum, Tokyo. We have not found another impression of this sheet offered on the international market.