Toyohara Kunichika (豊原国周) (artist 1835 – 1900)

Ichikawa Danjūrō IX (市川団十郎) as the female demon Teruhi no miko [照日の神子] in Uwanari (嫐) one the 18 Famous Plays [of the Ichikawa Clan] - Juhachiban - (十八番之内) in the series One Hundred Roles of Ichikawa Danjūrō (市川団十郎演芸百番)

Print

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Date:1898
Dimensions:9.5 in x 14 in (Overall dimensions) Medium:Japanese color woodblock print
Inscription:Signed: Kunichika hitsu
国周筆
Artist's seal: toshidama (in red)
Publisher: Fukuda Kumajirō
Carver: Nisei Watanabe Hori Ei ryū (lower right margin)
二世彫栄?
Links Waseda University
Waseda University (variant printing)
Honolulu Museum of Art
Hagi Uragami Museum of Art
National Museum of Asian Art
Smart Museum of Art, the University of Chicago Description:"The plot of the play The ambush of the second wife (Uwanari) centres on the theme of jealousy: the spirit of a philandering husband's first wife exacts vengeance on him by entering the body of her daughter. She seeks to punish the man's second wife, in this print, her presence is indicated by the hannya mask, which is typically worn by revengeful female spirits and which has its origins in the Noh theatre."

Illustrated and quoted from: Time present and time past - Images of a forgotten master: Toyohara Kunichika 1835-1900 by Amy Newland Reigle, Hotei Publishing, 1999, page 130, no. 106.

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The meaning of the uwanari uchi

"This scene of jealous rage and violence on stage refers to the Muromachi practice called uwanari uchi, or 'secondary wife beating,' which describes the violence committed by a man's original legal wife (konami) who had lost her husband's favor and support against a supplanting secondary wife or wives (uwanari). Uwanari uchi was also performed sporadically during the Heian period (794-1185), but it was not until Muromachi that it became a full-blown social practice. A dramatization of uwanari nchi also occurs in Zeami's Kanawa (Iron crown), in which a jealous wife, who has been cast aside by her philandering husband in favor of another woman, seeks to avenge her humiliation by transforming herself into a demon and attacking a pair of dolls, which serve as substitutes for the husband and his new lover. In the end, her supernatural fury is subdued through the efforts of a sage named Abe no Seimei."

Quoted from: Theatricalities of Power: The Cultural Politics of Noh by Steven T. Brown, pp. 62-63.

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The Scholten Gallery in New York City gives this summary accompanying their copy of this print:

The actor Ichikawa Danjuro IX (1838-1903) is in the role of the ghost of Kasuga, a vengeful ex-wife, in the play Uwanari (The ambush of the second wife). The play centers on the theme of jealousy, as an estranged and now departed first wife tries to exact revenge on an adulterous former husband. She does so by entering the body of her daughter, to punish both him and his new partner. Danjuro wears a hannya mask, typical kabuki dress to indicate the spirit of a revengeful woman. The hannya archetype has its origins in the more reserved Noh theater.

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This print appears on a postage stamp from Granada.
Related entities Fukuda Kumajirō (福田熊次郎) (publisher)
Ichikawa Danjūrō IX (九代目市川團十郞: July 1874 to 1903) (actor)
actor prints (yakusha-e - 役者絵) (genre)
Meiji era (明治時代: 1868-1912) (genre)

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