** A fine Kuniyoshi design from the great three-master collaboration of the 1840s, the legendary handsome swordsman of Edo theatre ** Artist: Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1797–1861), signed Ichiyūsai Kuniyoshi ga (一勇斎国芳画) Title: Poem by Abe no Nakamaro: Nagoya Sanzaburō (安倍仲麿 名古屋山三郎) Series: Ogura nazorae hyakunin isshu – Ogura Imitations of One Hundred Poems by One Hundred Poets (小倉擬百人一首), No. 7 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). One minor loss at the upper margin outside the image area. Very good overall! Please check the images! ________________________________________________ THE SCENE The poem in the upper panel is one of the most famous in Japanese literature. Abe no Nakamaro (c. 698–770) travelled to China as a young scholar and served at the Tang court for the rest of his life. He never made it back home. His verse looks up at the moon from China and remembers the same moon rising over Mount Mikasa at Kasuga, near the old capital Nara: When I look up into the wide plain of heaven, is it the same moon that rose over Mount Mikasa at Kasuga? Kuniyoshi pairs this poem of exile with the story of Nagoya Sanzaburō, which Tanekazu summarises in the text block. Sanzaburō was a retainer of the Sasaki family of Takashima in Ōmi Province. His father, Sanzaemon, was killed by Fuwa Banzaemon, a retainer of the same house. Sanzaburō then lived as a wandering rōnin in great hardship. With the loyal support of the courtesan Katsuragi-dayū of the Kamibayashi house in Kyoto's Shimabara pleasure quarter, he finally took his revenge on the embankment at Suzakuno. A historical Nagoya Sanzaburō lived around 1600. He was remembered as one of the most beautiful men of his age and is linked in legend to Izumo no Okuni and the beginnings of kabuki. His rivalry with Fuwa Banzaemon became a favourite kabuki subject, and Edo audiences knew the story well. ________________________________________________ About the Taiheiki Heroes 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.