Toyokuni III · Nezumi Kozō Play by Mokuami · Ichikawa...

Artist: Utagawa Toyokuni III (歌川豊国, 1786–1864), formerly Kunisada I, signed Toyokuni ga (豊国画) in a toshidama cartouche on each sheet Title: 鼠小紋東君新形 — Nezumi Komon Haru no Shingata ("The Mouse-Pattern Kimono: New Designs for Spring") Subject: Two sheets from a kabuki triptych: Left sheet: Yokichi, son of Yosobē (与惣兵衛忰与吉), with a constable (とり手, torite) Centre sheet: Matsubaya Matsuyama (松葉屋松山) Format: Ōban, two sheets of a triptych, each ca. [24 × 36 cm] Technique: Nishiki-e (full-colour woodblock print) Date: Ansei 4 (1857), 1st month Publisher: Kagaya Kichiemon (加賀屋吉右衛門) Signature / seals: Signed Toyokuni ga on each sheet. Aratame (改) censor seal and Snake-year 1st-month date seal (巳正), plus publisher's seal, on each sheet Condition: Good impression with good colour throughout. The paper is firm and subtle. Minor loss and minor soiling to each sheet. Please refer to the images for full detail! About the print Nezumi Komon Haru no Shingata was written by Kawatake Mokuami (then Kawatake Shinshichi II). It is based on the real thief Nezumi Kozō Jirokichi, who was executed in 1832 and became a popular folk hero. Mokuami wrote the play for Ichikawa Kodanji IV, and it became one of the best-known works of their partnership in thief plays. The Tokyo Metropolitan Library holds a copy of this triptych. Its record dates the design to the first month of Ansei 4 (1857) and links it to the Ichimura-za production that opened on the 14th day of that month. The record names the cast as follows: Ichikawa Kodanji IV as Yokichi, Onoe Kikugorō IV as the courtesan Matsuyama, and Kawarazaki Gonjūrō I as Bunza on the missing right sheet. It identifies the constable, with some uncertainty, as Ichikawa Yonegorō I. Gonjūrō later became Ichikawa Danjūrō IX.

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