Kuniyoshi: Chapter 6 (roku-dan) (Sold)

Artist: Utagawa Kuniyoshi
Title: Chapter 6 (roku-dan)
Series: Parody on Chôchingura (mitate chôchin-gura)
Date: 1847-53

This series is a parody on Kabuki play, “Chûshin-gura.” The main figures of the chapters is depicted on lanterns on the right top. However the title of the prints is a phonetically similar “chôchin,” meanng a lantern instead of “chûshin”, a loyal retainer. A lantern often refers to a pleasure quaters. The person on this lantern is probably Hayano Kanpei in chapter 6 of the play, in which Kanpei kills himself because he thought he killed his mistress Okaru’s father by mistake. In this print a seated woman opens her kimono, her obi gurtle untied and is about to touch her belly with a brush. A tray in front of her seems to have some kind of seeds.

Publisher: Yamamoto-ya Heikichi
Seal: censors’ seals:Muramatsu & Yoshimura (1847-53)
Signature: Ichiyûsai Kuniyoshi ga

SKU: KUY218