KUNIYOSHI - 百人一首（百人百诗） - 约 1845–1848 年 - 日本木版画 - 日本 - Edo Period (1600-1868)

** Kanawa Gorō Imakuni and the poisoned sake, a famous scene from the kabuki classic Imoseyama Onna Teikin **

Artist: Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1797–1861), signed Ichiyūsai Kuniyoshi ga (一勇斎国芳画)
Title: Poem by Minamoto no Muneyuki Ason: Kanawa Gorō Imakuni (源宗于朝臣 金輪五郎今国)

Series: Ogura nazorae hyakunin isshu (小倉擬百人一首), The Hundred Poets Compared, no. 28
Date: Japan, c. 1845–48 (late Edo period)
Publisher: Ibaya Senzaburō (Dansendō)
Carver: Hori Fusajirō (彫工房次郎)
Text: Ryūkatei Tanekazu (柳下亭種員)
Format: Ōban, approx. 36 × 24 cm
________________________________________________

CONDITION

Strong impression with excellent colors across the sheet. The paper has a very light backing (Edo Paper). A small minor repair and small foxing is noted. Very good overall! Please check the images!
________________________________________________

THE SCENE

Poem 28 is by the Heian courtier Minamoto no Muneyuki (d. 940), a grandson of Emperor Kōkō. It is one of the best-known winter poems in the anthology:

In the mountain village, loneliness grows deepest in winter, when I think how the visitors have gone and the grasses have withered.

Kuniyoshi links the poem to Imoseyama Onna Teikin, a play first staged for the puppet theatre in 1771 and soon taken up by kabuki. The play is set around the downfall of the tyrant Soga no Iruka in 645. Kanawa Gorō Imakuni is a loyal retainer of Fujiwara no Kamatari. According to Tanekazu's text on the sheet, when Iruka tried to seize imperial power and built a new palace on Mount Mikasa in Yamato, Imakuni disguised himself as Fukashichi, a fisherman from the Kumano coast, made his way inside, and helped his lord bring Iruka down.

The Rijksmuseum describes this design as Imakuni pouring poisoned sake over plants, and Degener describes him pouring sake onto the ground from a ladle. This is how the print answers the riddle: the poem's withered grasses become the plants killed by the poison meant for him.
________________________________________________

ABOUT THE SERIES:

The Ogura nazorae hyakunin isshu is one of the few series in which the three leading masters of the 1840s worked side by side: Kuniyoshi designed 51 sheets, Hiroshige 35 and Kunisada 14. Instead of portraying the classical poets themselves, each print pairs one of the hundred poems with a scene from history, legend or kabuki, and the viewer is invited to work out the connection, almost like a riddle. A short narrative text on each sheet tells the story behind the picture. Kuniyoshi's contributions are known for their strong figure compositions and storytelling, and each sheet joins a classical poem to a dramatic tale.