fan crest   title
Home •  Recent Update •  Sales Gallery •  Archives
Articles •  Varia •  Glossary •  Biographies •  Bibliography
Search •  Video •  Contact Us •  Conditions of Sale •  Links
 

Archive: Kagematsu (景松)

Description:
Kataoka Gadô II (二代目 片岡我当) as Oguri Hangan Sukeshige (小栗判官助重) in Hime kurabe futaba ezôshi, Naka Theater, Osaka
Signature:
Utagawa Kagematsu ga
Seals:
No Artist Seals
Publisher:
Wataki (Wataya Kihei, 綿屋喜兵衞)
Date:
8/1840
Format:
(H x W)
Oban nishiki-e
38.3 x 26.0 cm
Impression:
Very good
Condition:
Very good color; Very good condition (unbacked)
Price (USD/¥):
SOLD

Inquiry (Ref #KGM01)

Comments:
Background

Hime kurabe futaba ezôshi (Picture-book comparison of twin blades and the princess: 姫競双葉絵草紙) play was first performed in 1800, one in a long series of jidaimono ("period piece" or history plays: 時代物) categorized as Oguri Hangan mono (or Oguri mono, "Oguri Hangan plays") for both the puppet and kabuki theaters going to the 1660s. These tales, mixing the historical with the fictional, took their inspiration from various legends about Oguri as well as Chikamatsu Monzaemon's (近松門左衛門) 1698 puppet play Tôryû Oguri Hangan (當世流小栗判官) as well as the military chronicle Kamakura daizôshi ("Great copybook of Kamakura": 鎌倉大絵双紙). The action was set during the Kamakura period (1186-1336) and featured the master of Hitachi Castle, Oguri Hangan Sukeshige (小栗判官助重), and his wife, Yokoyama Terute (横山照天姫). Oguri's adventures follow many complicated paths, including political and military intrigues and supernatural episodes, his death due to poisoning by Terute's father and brother, and then his resurrection and revenge against his wife's family.

Design

Oguri wears a black lacquered hat (eboshi, literally "bird hat") secured with cords tied under his chin. A falcon is perched on his left arm, while he holds a riding whip in his right hand. His elaborate robes appear to be ceremonial in design (they could not have been worn during the hunt).

The setting is in a compositional style called uki-e ("floating picture"), that is, a perspective view. As was often the case in ukiyo-e of this and earlier periods, the drawing of receding space does not strictly adhere to the Western model of a single vanishing point. Most artists had an incomplete understanding of the principles of perspective, but they and the print-buying public were fascinated by images in which the foreground figures seemed to "float" before middle and distant architectural or landscape elements.

This is the right-hand sheet of a diptych, with the left sheet portraying Nakamura Tomijûrô II as Asaka, the wife of Yokoyama Tarô (inscribed "Yokoyama Tarô tsuma Asaka": 横山太郎妻朝香) holding a toy hobby horse. Works by Kagematsu are rarely available for acquisition.

References: OHZ, no. p. 116; HSK, no. 187; IKBYS-III, no. 205; KNP-6, p. 408; IKB-I, no. 2-460; NKE, pp. 487-88