Torii KIYOMITSU (1735-1785)
Click here to view image full size. An hosoban showing two female travellers and their man-servant crossing a river beside a waterwheel, a giant sun on the horizon, the ancient symbol of Japan. Very few prints show waterwheels, the best known being Hokusa’s waterwheel at Onden from the 36 Views of Fuji set. They were […]
Torii KIYOMITSU (1735-1785)
Click here to view image full size. An hosoban showing two adversaries, the lower figure fighting off his opponent while seated on a fish trap in a stream. The upper figure is the actor Nakamura Sukegoro I as Kenkaya Goroemon and the lower is the actor Nakamura Utayemon I as Nonhyoko Kyubei. Published by Matsumura […]
Torii KIYOMITSU (1735-1785)
Click here to view image full size. An hosoban benizuri-e print in beni, yellow and blue showing the actor Segawa Kikunojo II (bottom left) in the role of musume Kagekiyo and Ichimura Uzaemon IX (top right) as Osu…, possibly Osutoko. Musume means “daughter”, while Kagekiyo was the famous general of the Heike clan. However, if […]
Torii KIYOMITSU (1735-1785)
Click here to view image full size. An hosoban showing the actor Ichimura Uzaemon IX in the role of Hanako performing the famous dance in Musume Dojoji, “The Maiden at Dojoji Temple.” Hanako is allowed to dance before the new bell at the temple only to reveal herself as the spirit of Kiyohime who killed […]
Torii KIYOMITSU (1735-1785)
Click here to view image full size. An hosoban benizuri-e showing the actor Bando Hikosaburo II as Sanada no Yoichi Yoshitada in the play Ume ya suisen izu no irifune performed at the Morita Theatre, 11/1763. Yoshitada served the Minamoto Clan and is usually shown fighting his adversary Matano Goro Kagehisa. Published by Harimaya Shinshichi. […]
Torii KIYOMITSU (1735-1785)
Click here to view image full size. An hosoban benizuri-e showing the actor Ichimura Uzaemon IX as Soga no Goro Tokimune, brandishing a club, and riding to avenge the murder of his father by Kudo Suketsune. Published c. 1768. (The publisher’s seal may be on the underside of the horse.) Kiyomitsu was the second son […]
Torii KIYOMITSU (1735-1785)
Click here to view image full size. Shows the standing figure of the kabuki actor Ichimura Kamezo I as Wankyu in the play Furiwakamura suehiro Genji which according to the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, which has another impression (no.21.8149), was staged at the Ichimura theatre, 11th month, 1760. But I have been unable to […]
Torii KIYOMITSU (1735-1785)
Click here to view image full size. The actor Segawa Kikunojo II as the Tennin (a devine being that is able to fly by means of a feathered kimono) from the play Hagoromo, “The Feathered Mantle.” She stands on Miho Beach, the feathered kimono caught in the tree behind her. The story relates how fishermen […]
Torii KIYOMITSU (1735-1785)
Click here to view image full size. A large oban panel, 11.75 x 16.5 in; 29.75 x 42 cms showing three beauties playing, from the left, a shamisen, a koto, and a kokyu in an interior with hand-painted screens. A beautiful and important print. Kiyomitsu was the son and pupil of Kiyonobu II, the third […]
Torii KIYOMITSU (1735-1780)
Click here to view image full size. A hosoban benizuri-e print in beni, yellow and blue showing the actor Segawa Kikunojo II ( bottom left ) in the role of musume Kagekiyo and Ichimura Uzaemon IX ( top right ) as Osu … possibly Osutoko. “Musume” means “daughter”, while Kagekiyo was the famous general of […]
Torii KIYOMITSU (1735-1785)
Click here to view image full size. The actor Nakayama Bunshichi. . Kiyomitsu was the final flowering of the Torii School and a pioneer of the polychrome print. Harunobu went on to fully exploit the technique using a variety of unusual pigments and overprinting to produce a yet larger palette unsurpassed in the following years. […]