Artist: Utagawa Kunisada (歌川国貞, 1786–1865), signing as Utagawa Toyokuni III Title (roles depicted): Ishikawa Goemon (石川五右衛門) and Mashiba Hisayoshi (真柴久吉) — the great thief and his sworn enemy Play: From the Sanmon Gosan no Kiri (楼門五三桐) cycle of Goemon dramas Date: Late Edo period, circa 1847–1852 (Kōka–Kaei era) Format: Ōban tate-e diptych, two seperate sheets each ca. 36*24cm Technique: Nishiki-e (full-colour woodblock) with deluxe tsuya-zuri burnishing ---------------------------------------------------------------------- IMPRESSION & COLOUR: A classic confrontation staged across two sheets, unified by a slate-blue ground patterned with crane-and-scroll roundels and divided by a single dark pillar. At right, Ishikawa Goemon crouches in a coiled, aggressive mie, his armoured black over-robe falling in heavy folds as he grips the hilt of his sword — wild-haired, glaring, the very image of the defiant outlaw. At left, his adversary Mashiba Hisayoshi sits in cool composure, robed in pale cream and brocade, a closed fan in hand and a calm, almost disdainful gaze: stillness against fury. The colour is rich and well-saturated, with deep indigos, brick reds and patterned brocades carried by confident keyblock drawing. The print's finest feature is its burnished black (tsuya-zuri): the dense black of Goemon's robe has been polished to a low sheen so that the woven geometric pattern within it surfaces only when the sheet is tilted to the light — a deluxe finishing touch that survives here in excellent state, exactly the detail a collector hopes to find intact. PAPER & CONDITION: The paper is in good condition with some trimming and wear to the margins consistent with age and handling. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject — Goemon and his Enemy Ishikawa Goemon is one of the great anti-heroes of the Japanese popular imagination: a master thief and outlaw — often cast in later tradition as a ninja — celebrated on the kabuki stage above all in the Sanmon Gosan no Kiri, with its famous rooftop-gate soliloquy ("Zekkei kana!"). The drama turns on revenge: Goemon discovers that Mashiba Hisayoshi was responsible for the deaths of both his adoptive father, Takechi Mitsuhide, and his true father, and resolves to kill him. As so often in Edo kabuki, the names mask history. "Mashiba Hisayoshi" (真柴久吉) is the stage cipher for Hashiba / Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the unifier of Japan — disguised because the Tokugawa censors forbade direct depiction of Sengoku rulers on stage or in print. "Takechi Mitsuhide" likewise stands in for Akechi Mitsuhide. Kunisada gives us the two protagonists at their dramatic opposition: rage and serenity, thief and lord, set as mirror images across the diptych.