Utagawa Toyokuni I (初代歌川豊国) (artist 1769 – 02/24/1825)
Matsumoto Kōshirō V (松本幸四郎) as Mizuemon (水右衛門) about to strike the geisha Omatsu (芸者お松) with his sword
09/11/1813
9.75 in x 14.5 in (Overall dimensions) Japanese woodblock print
Signed: Toyokuni ga (豊国画)
British Museum - Kuniyoshi of Omatsu attacking Mizuemon in a boat
Waseda University This image may represent a performance of the play based on an original play written by Chikamatsu Monzaemon in 1711. The villain of that play was Akabori Mizuemon.
****
This may be the center panel of a triptych. There is no publisher's seal.
In Tōkaidō Texts and Tales: Tōkaidō gojūsan tsui by Kuniyoshi, Hiroshige, and Kunisada, edited by Andreas Marks, University Press of Florida, 2015, on page 119 there is a description of a Kuniyoshi print which gives a succinct summary of the vendetta between the Ishii family and Fujikawa Mizuemon.
****
"The historical incident of revenge as described in the inscription occurred in 1701 in Kameyama in the province of Ise. Two brothers plotted over many years to avenge the deaths of their father and elder brother. Their father, Ishii Uemon, a fencing master in the Komoro clan of Shinshū Province, had upbraided a pupil for self-indulgent behavior, and was attacked and murdered in retaliation. The eldest son, Genzō, sough revenge but was instead himself murdered in a counterattack. For twenty-eight years the two younger brothers, Gennosuke and Hanjirō, plotted their revenge, and they finally achieved their objective and struck down their enemy.
Historical documents list the name of the actual enemy as Akabori Mizunosuke, not Fujikawa Mizuemon. Tsuruya Nanboku IV wrote several plays on this theme, including The Miraculous Kameyama Pike (Reigen Kameyama boko), also known as The Vendetta at Kameyama (Kameyama no adauchi). Mizuemon and Hyōsuke fight int he rain, but because Hyōsuke has been poisoned, he has no chance."
actor prints (yakusha-e - 役者絵) (genre)
Matsumoto Kōshirō V (五代目松本幸四郎: 11/1801 to 5/1838) (actor)
Chikamatsu Monzaemon (近松門左衛門) (author)