Original woodblock print,vertical diptych,edo period – Utagawa Kunisada (1786-1865)Utagawa Toyokuni III -”Yoshitsune Senbon-zakura”義経千本桜(Tentative title)- Japan – 1847-1848(Kouka 1-2 period)

Description

Original woodblock print,vertical diptych,edo period – Utagawa Kunisada (1786-1865)Utagawa Toyokuni III -”Yoshitsune Senbon-zakura”義経千本桜(Tentative title)- Japan – 1847-1848(Kouka 1-2 period)

The signature says “Kouchourou Toyokuni e, Ichiyousai Toyokuni e,”梓元の応需豊国画　応需豊国画”.

This woodblock print is covered with paper to increase its strength and needs to be repaired.

memo
Utagawa Kunisada,also known as Utagawa Toyokuni III,was the most popular, prolific and commercially successful designer of ukiyo-e woodblock prints in 19th-century Japan.In his own time,his reputation far exceeded that of his contemporaries,Hokusai,Hiroshige and Kuniyoshi.he took on Utagawa as a surname, and also used the surname Gototei 五渡亭( bunka 8 period to the end of Tenpo period),Kouchouou香蝶楼 ( Bunsei 10 period to the first Kaei),Nishikichorou錦朝楼,Yuusai雄斎 (bunka 9 period of), Kotoraisha 琴雷舎(bunka 10 period of), Kitaumedo北梅戸、Tomibozanjin富望山人,Tomoboan 富望庵, tōki-en桃樹園, Oukou応好, Gepparou 月波楼(bunka 8 period), Kioh喜翁 (Bunkyu 2period), Toyokuni豊国 Kunisadasha国貞, Hinashishi Toyokuni雛獅子豊国 , Ukiyo Matahira浮世又平

memo

Yoshitsune Senbon Zakura (義経千本桜), or Yoshitsune and the Thousand Cherry Trees, is a Japanese play, one of the three most popular and famous in the Kabuki repertoire.Originally written in 1747 for the jōruri puppet theater by Takeda Izumo II, Miyoshi Shōraku and Namiki Senryū I, it was adapted to kabuki the following year.

Adapted to Kabuki, the play was premièred in that mode in January 1748, in the city of Ise, in Mie Prefecture. Kataoka Nizaemon IV and Yamamoto Koheiji were two of the actors in this performance, playing Ginpei and Tadanobu/Genkurō respectively. The premiere in Edo was held at the Nakamura-za in May the same year, and in Osaka at the Naka no Shibai just a few months later in August.

The play is derived from the world of the Heike Monogatari, a classical epic which details the rise and fall of the Taira clan of samurai. The latter portions describe the eventual defeat of the Taira in the Genpei War (1180–85), at the hands of the Minamoto clan, led by Minamoto no Yoshitsune, the title character of this play.

Yoshitsune takes place a few years after the end of the Genpei War. Minamoto no Yoshitsune, the famous general, is being pursued by agents of his brother, Minamoto no Yoritomo, who has recently established himself as shōgun. Yoshitsune travels with his mistress Shizuka and loyal retainer Benkei in search of three Taira generals who escaped justice at the end of the war, and who he believes may pose a threat to the shogunate. This aspect of the plot is the primary departure from both history and from the epic. In reality, the three generals Taira no Koremori, Taira no Tomomori, and Taira no Noritsune, along with the young Emperor Antoku and his nursemaid who feature in the play, all perished in the war, most of them sacrificing themselves in the battle of Dan-no-ura.