Kunisada: Princess Takiyasha Performing Sorcery of Vengeance

Artist: Utagawa Kunisada (1786-1865)
Title:  Kataoka Nizaemon VIII in the role of Yōzoku Orochimaru (妖賊大蛇丸)

Series: Competition of the art of magic done by Toyokuni 豊国揮毫奇術競 (Toyokuni kigô kijutsu arasoi)
Date: 1863

Onoe Kikujirô II in the role of Takiyasha hime (Princess Takiyasha). A skull lies abandoned in a deserted field on the moors at bottom; from it in a spooky plume arises; from the ghostly plume we see Takiyashi hime carrying out a special Ox-hour dark ritual, performed the hour of the ox between 1 and 3 am. She is dressed in white and wears a tripod of burning candles on her head. She also clenches a magical stick in her teeth that has spectral flames on both ends. She wears a ceremonial mirror and carries a ceremonial bell and holds a sword in her right hand. Takiyashi-hime was the daughter of Taira no Masakado in the tenth century. She attempts to avenge her father’s death using sorcery. (It is she who is pictured in Kuniyoshi’s famous skeleton specter triptych in 1844.) Here she is most likely performing a dark ritual at Kifune Shrine to obtain powerful onmyôdô sorcery so that she may fulfill her quest of revenge. As with the “first” editions of this design, it is expensively printed on heavy paper, with mica highlights in the sky and metal pigment on the mirror, as well as blindprinting on the robe and purple sash.

Condition: Excellent impression and color; very good condition. Some trimming at left.

Dimensions: ôban (36.5 x 24.5 cm)  Publisher: Hirano-ya
Signature: nanajû hachi sai Toyokuni hitsu (brush of Toyokuni at 78 years old)

SKU: KUS536