Kunisada: Diptych of Yosaburo and Yasu the Bat with Ryogoku Bridge Fireworks Behind

Artist: Utagawa Kunisada (1786-1865)
Title: Ryogoku Bridge Diptych with Danjuro and Nakamura Tsuruzo

Series: Edo no hana meisho-e 江戸廼花名勝会 (Flowers of Edo and Views of Famous Places) Date: 1863

Ichikawa Danjuro VII in the role of Yokoyama no Yosaburo, right.  He bears scars from his recent run-in with some yakuza gange members. At left is his partner in crime, Nakamura Tsuruzo I as Yokozuna no Yasu, “Yasu the Bat”, with his bat-shaped facial tattoo, holding a lantern. The left sheet depicts Eleven Brigade, North Group, Ryogoku. Each actor has his mon pictured above his head, and their backgrounds are done with a technique that raises the natural grain on a woodblock. Between them is a diptych that shows evening fireworks drifting down above Ryogoku bridge. The design of the landscape was designed by Hiroshige II, and the calligraphy is signed “Chikudo sho”. Yoshitoshi designed a terrific dipych featuring these two characters in 1885. See https://egenolfgallery.com/products/yoshitoshi-the-story-of-otomi-and-yosaburo-with-yasu-the-bat?_pos=1&_sid=79d8a0faf&_ss=r

.The term “flowers of Edo” (Edo no hana) can refer, among other things, to fires. The title panel for each print in this series shows the lanterns and identifying standard (matoi) for one of the brigades of firefighters (hikeshi) assigned to various districts. On the west side of the Sumida River were 48 brigades named for the symbols of the kana syllabary and grouped into 8 numbered groups (1 to 10, minus the bad-luck numbers 4 and 7). On the east side of the river, brigades were numbered and assigned to directional groups. Outlying districts were covered by special brigades, here designated “extra” (bangai). Each title gives the name or number of a brigade, its group, and its district, followed by the kabuki scene chosen to match it. Each print highlights the most famous aspects of an individual district in Edo, and includes a scene from the district and a kabuki actor portrait that relates to the place in some way. There is a lot going on in each design, as in the upper right are the standards and lanterns for specific fire brigades, and on the upper left are usually magic lantern slides. Then there are one or two designs that comprise the lower portion, with Kunisada designing the actor portrait and various (21! in total for the series) other artists designing the landscape scenes. 

Condition: Very good impression, color and condition.  Dimensions: ôban diptych (each sheet approx. 35.3 x 24.2 cm)
Publisher: Katôya Iwazoô (Seibei)
Literature: See MFA, FAMSF (Achenbach) museums online for other works from this series. 
Signature: Toyokuni ga, Hiroshige ga

SKU: KUS567