About This Print

The actors (right to left) Ōtani Tomoemon IV in the role of Yamanaya Shirōbei, Bandō Shuka I in the role of the courtesan Yamanaya Urazato, Nakayama Bungorō II in the role Yaritenokaya, Bandō Kichiya in the role of Katsumi and Ichikawa Danjūrō VIII in the role of Kasugaya Tokijirō in the Kabuki play Akegarasu Hana no Nureginu [明烏花濡衣], staged at the Ichimura theater in Edo during the second month of 1851.

While only the actor's roles are provided on the print (within the orange cartouches) the website of the Waseda University Library¹ provides the actor's names and the title of the play. 

Source: Kabuki Encyclopedia, An English-Language Adaption of Kabuki Jiten, Samuel L. Leiter, Greenwood Press, 1979, p. 12-13. AKEGARASU (HANA NO NUREGINU). Sakurada Jisuke III. Sewamono. Kabuki. One act. February 1851. Ichimura-za. Edo.  This work was inspired by a popular Osaka piece in the musical style called shinnai bushi – Akegarasu Yume no Awayuki – which described the lovers’ suicides of Inosuke, a son of a purveyor to the government, and Miyoshino, a prostitute. Jisuke’s version, written in Edo, is performed with kiyomoto2 music. It was a great hit at its first performance, largely because of the beautiful voice of the kiyomoto singer, Kyomoto Tahei, and the acting of Ichikawa Danjūrō VIII as Tokijirō and Bandō Shūka I as Urazato.  In its first production, this play was part of a long work by Jisuke, based on the classic Kanadehon Chūshingura, but subsequent revivals omitted the connection with that play.  Urazato, a courtesan of the Yamana-ya, and her lover, Tokijirō, are the parents of Midori, a child maidservant at the brothel. Since a courtesan’s having a permanent lover is considered an obstacle to the business operations of the Yamana-ya, an attempt is made to separate the pair. One snowy day an employee of the brothel discovers Urazato engaged in a secret rendezvous with Tokijirō. The latter is driven away, and the courtesan is tied to a pine tree in the garden and beaten. Urazato bemoans her ills for a time and weeps. However, Tokijirō steals over the fence and rescues her; the lovers escape with Midori on her father’s back.  Urazato’s lamentation scene (kudoki) and her love scene with Tokijirō are accompanied by melancholy kiyomoto music. At the heart of the piece is the gruesome beauty of the beating in the snow and its resultant pathos.