About This Print
Picturing the puppets Hisamatsu 久松 and his elderly foster father Kyūsaku 久作 in the play Shinpan Utazaimon: Osome Hisamatsu written by Chikamatsu Hanji (1725-1783) and first staged in 1780.Brief Plot Summary
Source: Historical Dictionary of Japanese Traditional Theatre, Samuel L. Leiter, The Scarecrow Press, 2006, p. 250-251
A story of unrequited love and double suicide. In Nozaki Mura the country girl Omitsu is in love with Hisamatsu, but he is in love with the city girl Osome. Aware that they might commit double suicide if thwarted, Omitsu cuts her hair off to become a nun.
explanatory sheet
新版歌祭文 お染久松
Source: Ritsuemikan University Art Research Center201-1499
click on image to enlarge
About the "Illustrated Collection of Famous Japanese Puppets of the Osaka Bunrakuza"
This collection of prints was issued over the period April 1926 (Taishō 15) to August 1927 (Shōwa 2) by the publishers Bijutsusha 美術社 in Tokyo and Hangakai hanmoto 版画会板元 in Kyoto.1 The collection consists of forty-eight prints and twelve explanatory sheets for ten well-known bunraku plays (see table below) performed at Osaka's Burakuza.
新版歌祭文 お染久松
Shinpan Utazaimon: Osome HisamatsuThe New Scandalous Ballad of Osome and Hisamatsu 仮名手本忠臣蔵 忠臣蔵、七段目
Kanadehon Chūshingura – shichi danmeThe Treasury of Loyal Retainers: Act 7 仮名手本忠臣蔵 忠臣蔵、五段目
Kanadehon Chūshingura – go danmeThe Treasury of Loyal Retainers: Act 5 仮名手本忠臣蔵 前段続き
Kanadehon Chūshingura – zendan tsudukiThe Treasury of Loyal Retainers: Introduction 伊賀越道中双六 伊賀越敵討
Igagoe dōchū sugoroku - Igagoe katakiuchiThe Revenge at Igagoe - Vengance at Igagoe 一の谷嫩軍記 一谷嫩軍記、組打
Ichinotani futaba gunki - kumiuchiChronicle of the Battle of Ichinotani – The Duel 鎌倉三代記
Kamakura sandaikiThree Generations of Kamakura Shoguns 心中天網嶋 小春治兵衛
Shinjū ten nō amajima - Koharu JiheiThe Love Suicides at Amijima - Koharu Jihei 義経千本桜 静忠信道行
Yoshitsune senbon zakura - Sei chūshin michiyukiYoshitsune and the Thousand Cherry Trees - travel dance of devotion 菅原伝授手習鑑 車引き
Sugawara Denju Tenarai Kagami – kurumabikiSugawara and the Secrets of Calligraphy - the struggle for the carriage 本朝廿四孝 十種香
Honchō nijū shikō – jusshukōTwenty-four Examples of Filial Piety – The Incense Burning 夏祭浪花鑑 団七九郎兵衛
Natsumatsuri Naniwa kagami – Danshichi KurobeiSummer festival at Naniwa (Osaka)– Danshichi Kurobei
Each performance was represented in the collection by an explanatory sheet plus one print showing a stage set from the play and three portraits of the play's main characters, as shown below.
Yoshitsune and the Thousand Cherry Trees
click on image to enlarge
It is likely that the prints were sold, at least in part, by subscription, as decorative enclosures exist for the four prints and the explanatory sheet for each of the plays. A decorative portfolio or outer box containing the entire set of plays was also issued. The two colophons I've seen for the set (see below) indicate that the explanatory sheets were written by Hasegawa Konobu, the artist who designed the prints and, likely, the person who conceived of the collection.
colophon accompanying set of prints publishedby Hangakai hanmoto 板画會板元Source: National Diet Library colophon accompanying set of prints published by Bijutsusha 美術社Source: Ritsumeikan University Art Research Center
At an unknown later date, Uchida Publishing obtained the blocks and re-issued the prints depicting puppets. The Uchida published prints bear the hexagonal seal of Uchida.
The collection's title 日本名物大阪文楽座人形画集 (Ōsaka Bunraku-za Ningyō Gashū: Nihon Meibutsu) has been variously translated as Illustrated Collection of the Famous Japanese Puppets of the Osaka Bunrakuza; Book of Noted Puppets of the Bunrakuza, Osaka and Famous Products of Japan: Osaka Bunraku Theatre Dolls, Book of Prints.
For a detailed history of the Puppet Theater in Osaka please see the National Diet Library page http://www.ndl.go.jp/scenery/e/column/kansai/goryo_bunrakuza.html
1 Hangakai hanmoto is also seen written as 板畫會板元
Print Details
IHL Catalog | #1656 |
Title or Description | The New Scandalous Ballad of Osome and Hisamatsu (also seen translated as The Balladeer's New Tale of Osome and Hisamatsu) Shinpan Utazaimon: Osome Hisamatsu 形新版歌祭文 お染久松 |
Series | Illustrated Collection of the Famous Japanese Puppets of the Osaka Bunrakuza Ōsaka Bunraku-za Ningyō Gashū: Nihon Meibutsu 日本名物大阪文楽座人形画集 |
Artist | Hasegawa Sadanobu III (Konobu III) (1881-1963) |
Signature | 小信 Konobu |
Seal | 小信 Konobu oval seal (see above) |
Publication Date | originally Taishō 15 (1926) |
Publisher | 美術社 Bijutsusha, Tokyo and 版画会板元 Hangakai hanmoto, Kyoto |
Impression | excellent |
Colors | excellent |
Condition | excellent - paper abrasion upper right corner |
Genre | 文楽人形 bunraku ningyō |
Miscellaneous | |
Format | |
H x W Paper | 14 3/4 x 10 in. (37.5 x 25.4 cm) |
H x W Image | 14 5/8 x 9 3/4 in. (37.1 x 24.8 cm) |
Literature | |
Collections This Print | The Tsubouchi Memorial Theatre Museum of Waseda University 作品番号:201-1492 and 201-1542A; Ritsumeikan University Art Research Center; National Diet Library |
last revision:
11/20/2018