Kunisada: Tsu Brigade, Ninth Group, Tabata; Bando Mitsugoro VI as Ota Mochisuke Ason つ　九番組」　「田畑」　「太田持資朝臣　坂東三津五郎」（六代目）

Artist: Utagawa Kunisada (1786-1865)
Title: Tsu Brigade, Ninth Group, Tabata; Bando Mitsugoro VI as Ota Mochisuke Ason つ　九番組」　「田畑」　「太田持資朝臣　坂東三津五郎」（六代目）

Series: Edo no hana meisho-e 江戸廼花名勝会 (Flowers of Edo and Views of Famous Places) Date: 1864

Dynamic scene of a fierce samurai warrior, top left, holding the top of a cloth banner that stretches to the lower right, where the bottom of the banner is gathered up by an actor in the role of a famous general. The top scene was done by Yoshitora, whose figure expands beyond the borders of his portion of the print, adding excitement to the design.

.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: Excellent impression, color and condition.  Dimensions: ôban (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, Yoshitora ga

SKU: KUS565