Yoshitoshi 芳年: Kabuki Actor as Fujiwara Shihei (Tokihira) (Sold)

Artist: Tsukioka Yoshitoshi (1839-1892)
Title:  Fujiwara no Tokihira  Date: 7/1860

Series: Modern Celebrities of the East) 今様 贔屓 東繪

Powerful and scarce early design by Yoshitoshi, showing the artist’s genius for drama at the tender age of twenty. We see an actor in the role of the villainous court minister Fujiwara Shihei (Tokihira), his eyes frozen in the climactic mie pose, one hand shown gesturing upwards with the fingers spread, drawing more attention to his visage. Perhaps because the costume is all black, including the courtiers cap  and lacquer-patterned black robe, Yoshitoshi has gone full force in creating a most colorful and dramatic background, with a bricklike red shibori pattern with a bold yellow/red cinquefoil, and then another, even more elaborate shibori tie-dye pattern in the background.

This is a portrait of an actor in the role of Fujiwara no Tokihira (871-909). This would seem to be the same character and perhaps the same actor that appears in Kunisada’s Tokaido Road actor series from 1852, identified as Ichikawa Kodanji IV as Ishikawa Tomoichi (Marks, Kunisada's Tôkaidô (2013), #T63-34, pp. 142, 145 and cover). The blackened teeth, courtier’s cap and blue string and wig seem to be the seem as Toyokuni’s 1816 print of Ichikawa Danjuro VII as Fujiwara no Shihei (Tokihira, Minister of the Left) in the play Ume Sakura Aioi-zoshi. Although the historical name of the person was Tokihira, the character in kabuki is called “Shihei”. He was a member of the powerful Fujiwara clan in the Heian period, and in the kabuki plays in which he plays a role, he is given the character of a noble court villain, and is involved in a conspiracy against Sugawara no Michizane.

Yoshitoshi’s early actor prints are scarce compared to his later warrior prints and bijin-ga, and here we see his talent at capturing a dramatic moment. In the early 1860s we can assume that Yoshitoshi was still “proving” himself as an artist, so each design of his is very carefully considered in these early years. This is from a rare series of which only two prints are known. The printing quality is exceptional for an early Yoshitoshi design, and there is an ornate pattern on the black of the robe using the urushi-imitating effect of shomenzuri.

Condition: Excellent impression, color and condition. Untrimmed and unbacked. One discoloration at left in background.

Publisher: Kadokin Dimensions: ôban 37.5 x 26 cm Literature:  Keyes series 35. 

Signature: Gyokuo Yoshitoshi hitsu

SKU: YOT946