About This Print
Two impressions, one with the printer's and carver's names impressed on the bottom margin, of the heroine Koharu from the eighteen print set Woodblock Print Supplements to the Complete Works of Chikamatsu, published from 1922 to 1923 as part of the celebration of the two-hundredth anniversary of the death of Chikamatsu Monzaemon (1623-1724), perhaps the greatest dramatist in the history of the Japanese theater. Each design illustrates a scene or character from one of Chikamatsu’s famous works. For more details on this series go to Woodblock Print Supplements to the Complete Works of Chikamatsu.
Note the use of metallic silver ink, most notably in the obi (see detail below) and hair bow.
Usually considered Chikamatsu's masterpiece, The Love Suicides at Amijima is an excellent example of plays depicting love suicides, a subject prohibited less than two years after the play premiered on January 3, 1721. Amijima was based on a real incident, a pair of lovers who killed themselves on the Amijima Diacho Temple grounds in Osaka on November 13, 1720. The puppet play opened not quite two months later. In Amijima, Chikamatsu goes well beyond simply staging a current event. The play explores the intricacies of a love triangle by treating the wife, Osan, as a major character. The entangling web of interactions between the wife and the courtesan, Koharu, complicates the plot and adds new depths to a familiar story (which ends in the double suicide of Koharu and her lover, Jihei.)
Many later versions of this play were written for both the puppet and the kabuki stage.
The Story of Koharu, the Heroine in "Shinjûten no amijima" by Chikamatsu Monzaemon
Source: Traditional Japanese Theater: An Anthology of Plays, Karen Brazell, Columbia University Press, 1998, p. 333-334
Many later versions of this play were written for both the puppet and the kabuki stage.
Print Details
| IHL Catalog | #47, #1114 |
| Title or Description | The Heroine Koharu in The Love Suicides of Amijima Shinjū ten no amijima no Koharu 「心中天の網島」の小春 |
| Series | Woodblock Print Supplements to the Complete Works of Chikamatsu Dai Chikamatsu zenshu furoku mokuhan 大近松全集 付録木版 |
| Artist | Kikuchi Keigetsu (1879-1955 ) |
| Signature |  |
| Seal | unread red artist's seal |
| Publication Date | between 1922-1923 |
| Edition | likely first editions, but the number of editions issued is unknown |
| Publisher | Dai Chikamatsu zenshū kankōkai 大近松全集刊行会 (the Complete Work of Chikamatsu Publishing Association) |
| Carver | Yamagishi Kazue (1893-1996) - 山岸主計 彫刻 as impressed on the bottom margin of print #1114 as shown below |
| Printer | Nishimura Kumakichi (b. 1862; act. c. 1911-1947) 西村熊吉 手摺 as impressed on the bottom margin of print #1114 as shown above |
| Impression | excellent |
| Colors | excellent |
| Condition | excellent - some apparent oxidation of pigment on hands and face |
| Miscellaneous | all prints from this series printed on a light tan-colored paper |
| Genre | shin hanga (new prints) |
| Format | dai-oban |
| H x W Paper | IHL Cat. #47: 17 x 11 3/8 in. (43.2 x 28.9 cm) IHL Cat. #1114: 16 7/8 x 11 3/16 (42.9 |
| H x W Image | IHL Cat. #47 and #1114: 15 1/2 x 11 in. (39.4 x 27.9 cm) |
| Collections This Print | The Tsubouchi Memorial Theatre Museum of Waseda University 201-0394 |
| Reference Literature | The Female Image: 20th Century Prints of Japanese Beauties, Amy Riegle Newland and Hamanaka Shinji, Abe Publishing Ltd and Hotei Publishing, 2000, p. 94, pl. 121 |
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