Background
Ume no haru [hatsuharu] gojûsan tsugi (Plums in spring and the fifty-three stations: 梅初春五十三駅) embeds in its title a reference to the fifty-three post stations along the Tôkaidô road connecting Edo with Kyoto, a popular theme for landscape prints, especially those of the Edo artist Utagawa Hiroshige (1797-1858). When this Sadamasu design was produced, Onoe Kikugorô III (尾上菊五郎 1784-1849), a celebrated Edo actor, was performing in Osaka between 11/1840 and 1/1842. (For more about Kikugorô III and a memorial print depicting him in another role from the same play, see KMS20).
Onoe Kikugorô III was one of the greatest kaneru yakusha (all-around actors: 兼ねる役者) in kabuki history. His stage rivalry with Ichikawa Danjûrô VII (1791-1859) pitched the fans of both actors into spirited competitions, each coterie claiming that its hero was the greatest actor of his generation. Kikugorô's alliance with the playwright Tsuruya Nanboku IV (1755-1829) resulted in the best known of kabuki's kaidan mono (ghost plays: 怪談物), when in 7/1825 he premiered the role of Oiwa in Tôkaidô Yotsuya kaidan (Tôkaidô ghost story at Yotsuya: 東海道四谷怪談).
Ume no haru [hatsuharu] gojûsan tsugi premiered in 1835 as an adaptation of the 1827 play Hitori tabi gojûsan tsugi (Traveling alone along the 53 stations: 独道中五十三駅) also by Tsuruya Nanboku IV (1755-1829), creator of the best known kaidan mono (ghost plays: 怪談物). Hitori tabi was written by a group of playwrights, including Nanboku's son, Tsuruya Nanboku V. Given the title, audiences might have expected a version of Jippensha Ikku's (十返舎一九, 1765–1831) best-selling comic novel Tôkaidôchû Hizakurige (東海道中膝栗毛, popularly known as Shank's Mare), but what they got instead was a spectacle of frightening scenes, along with erotic interplay and comic spoofing of Nanboku's favorite themes. Ume no haru, like its predecessor, included a monstrous demon cat, but also added a renegade priest who masters rat magic and a thief named Nezumi Kozô ("Kid Rat"). With these elements, the play qualified as a type of drama called neko sôdô mono ("cat-family dispute plays": 猫騒動物). The playwrights also added story lines from other kabuki and bunraku plots, transforming the famous greengrocer's daughter Oshichi into Sayoginu Oshichi and bringing in the dashing young samurai Shirai Gonpachi (白井権八) and his lover, the courtesan Komurasaki (小紫). With such a roster of fanciful characters and special effects (keren: "stunts" 外連), Ume no haru gojûsan tsugi became a long-running hit and inspired other plays featuring spectacular scenic effects.
Design
Gonpachi was one of seven roles Kikugorô performed in this same play. Such a tour de force was called nanabake (Seven changes: 七変化 also called nana henge and shichi henge), a series of dances performed by a single actor who never leaves the stage and who takes on the roles, genders, voices, mannerisms, and costumes of the different stage characters.
The role of Goshaku Somegorô appears to have been one of the many chivalrous commoners (otokodate, 男伊達 or 男作), popular heroic figures who defended the weak and oppressed. The historical samurai Shirai (Hirai) Gonpachi was guilty of murder and robbery, leading to his execution in 1679. However, the theatrical version of Gonpachi presents him — by age 16 — as a dashing otokodate famous for his good looks, bravery, and swordsmanship.
Note that Goshaku Somegorô holds an actor print, which is partly visible at the lower left. Our impression of Sadamasu's diptych is very fine. with brilliant colors.
References:
- Jan van Doesburg, Utagawa Sadamasu. Den Esch, Dodewaard, The Netherlands (privately published, edition of 80, 2022), p. 85, nos. 68-69
- KNP-6, p. 428;
- MFA Boston (complete, 11.35278-81)
