Kunichika: Onoe Kikugoro, Volcano Eruption and Magic Lantern Slides (Sold)

Artist: Toyohara Kunichika
Title: Kabuki Drama of Mount Bandai Eruption with Magic Lantern Slides
Date: 1888, September

The actor Onoe Kikugoro V clutches a broken beam as lightning flashes around him. He is between two roundels that represent Magic Lantern slides, the one on the right showing the eruption of a volcano, and the one on the left showing a family that is probably about to be impacted by the eruption.  This work is such an interesting confluence of Japanese history, theater, modernization and pictorial culture that a Mr. Okubo Ryo wrote a thesis about it in Japanese in 2012. The following information contains information from that thesis. On July 15,1888, the volcano Mt. Bandai in Fukushima Pref. erupted, and the foot of the mountain was buried in ashes and lava, destroying  5 villages and 11 hamlets. The Meiji Government for the first time organized aid for this natural disaster and established research centers  for seismographic studies, as well as organizing financial contributions. In order to promote visual reporting, a great number of woodblock prints and many newspaper illustrations were published.  Although at that time the new techniques of photographs and slides (for Magic Lanterns) were not fully developed, numerous photographers made photos and slides. One of the most well-known photographers was Tanaka Chigaku, who organized slideshow viewing gatherings for the public in Tokyo after the eruption.

Theater performance: Orientation towards current events & use of pictorial images in theater performance

The kabuki actor Onoe Kikugoro was in the audience of the slideshow gatherings organized by Tanaka Chigaku, and often took students to speak with him. Based on the slides and the details of the reports on the eruption of Mt. Bandai, Kikugoro consulted with the kabuki playwright Mokuami, and then directed and performed the piece “Oto ni kiku Asama no utsushi-e“ in October, 1888 at the Nakamura-za theater. This Kabuki drama supposedly was set during the eruption of Mt. Asama in the past, but the audience knew very well that this event referred to the recent event of Mt. Bandai.  A number of items which Tanaka had brought back from the eruption site, such as a real volcanic bomb! and lava, were exhibited at Nakamura-za for public viewing. Although the story was set in the past, it described the current event of 1888 and conveyed the suffering of the victims of the Bandai catastrophe. It played an important role in awakening the sympathy of the audience to the suffering of the victims.

The second act, “Scene of the eruption of Mt. Asama in Shinano Povince” (Shinshú Asama-yama funka no ba)  was dramatic. Tanaka explained his use of the slides in the scene: On the stage background he projected the scene of Mt. Asama on a drop curtain. With the roaring sound of thunder and the eruption, the drop curtain drops and the scene of erupting Asama with black smoke (vapor) and fire was projected in the center of the stage. Numerous ash-covered victims were seen screaming and frantically running around in front of the projected scene. The projector had a wheel so that the slides could be quickly switched for the changing scenes. 

Condition: Excellent impression, color and condition.
Dimensions: Oban triptych
Publisher: Matsui Heikichi
Signature: Toyohara Kunichika hitsu

SKU: CHC018S