Utagawa Kunisada (Toyokuni III)



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last updated:

new pictures: 11/11/20

 

new information: 11/11/20

to: Musha-e thumbnails

If you have matching informations and files or better files
please let me know and send them to: horstgraebner@kunisada.de

 

Pictures of Grappling (Komiu no zu):

signature: Gototei Kunisada ga
燕人張飛字翼徳長板橋曹操數万兵退
size: ōban
censor: kiwame
date: c. 1820
pub: Kawaguchiya Uhei
ref: N103, N86

signature: Gototei Kunisada ga
Soga Gorō Tokimune (曽我五郎時宗)
size: ōban
censor: kiwame
date: c. 1820
pub: Kawaguchiya Uhei
ref: N3, N95
signature: Gototei Kunisada ga
size: ōban
censor: kiwame
date: c. 1820
pub: Kawaguchiya Uhei
ref: N3
  The brothers Soga Gorō Tokimune and Goromaru Shigemune practising Juban guri, "The tenth of swordsmanship". Okabe Rokuyata Tadazumi in combat with Satsuma no Kami Tadanori at the battle of Ichinotani.

   

signature: Gototei Kunisada ga
size: ōban
censor: kiwame
date: c. 1820
pub: Kawaguchiya Uhei
ref: N3

   
Watanabe Genjitsuna in combat with Shōgun Tarō Yoshikado    
     
Battle Tales of the Han and Chu (War stories of China´s So dynasty) (Kan-So gundan - 漢楚軍談):

For this series Sebastian Izzard wrote 1993, Kunisada´s World, p. 107, that the first edition has been done by Nishimuraya Yohachi and the second by Jōshūya Jūzō. Geoffrey Dunn dicussed this question (who´s first publisher) again with S. Izzard and now Mr. Izzard comes to the conclusion, Jōshūya Jūzō´s was the first edition.
signature: ōju Gototei Kunisada ga
Han no Gaozu (漢の高祖) [Koso]
size: ōban
censor: kiwame
date: c. 1827
pub: Nishimuraya Yohachi
ref: many thanks to Robert Pryor for the image
signature: ōju Gototei Kunisada ga
Chu Xiang Yu [aka Kō U] tsuma yōyu-shi (楚項羽妻 虞氏) [= Ichijosei Kosanjō/Gushi]
size: ōban
censor: kiwame
date: c. 1827
pub: Nishimuraya Yohachi
ref: N3
same as before, somewhat different design
publisher: Jōshūya Jūzō
ref: Geoffrey Dunn
KOSO. Liu Bang (Liu Pang in Edmunds [Japanese Ryuho]) was a peasant born warrior, who during a period of prolonged civil war, rose to be a commanding general and, by successful conquest, the first Han emperor known as Gaozu (Koso).  Shown in combat with a splendid dragon. GUSHI.  One of the "Four beautiful women of China" and the wife of Kō U. When Kō U was beset by enemies he refused to leave his dire
situation because of her. Gushi (Yu Ki) cut her own throat to relieve him of responsibility for her.  He made away with her severed head on the pommel of his horse.
 
   
  other state of the above print
blue background with moon missing
newly carved ligth blue printing plate with lossing of some details
thanks to Robert Pryor for the new image
 
signature: ōju Gototei Kunisada ga
Kan Zhang Liang (韓張良) [Kosekiko], Huang Shigong (黃石公) [Choryo]
size: ōban
censor: kiwame
date: c. 1827
pub: Nishimuraya Yohachi
ref: N3
same as before, other state
ref: N10
same as before, other state
no publisher seal
ref: many thanks to Robert Pryor for the image
KOSEKIKO/CHORYO. His story is given in Edmunds (under Chang Liang) and Joly under Chorio.  The story links Choryo with Liu Pang, who went on to become Gaozu.  Taoist legend relates how he rescued a slipper from the Wei river for an apparently insignificant poor old man.  The old man turned out to be Hwang She Kung (Kosekiko), the "Yellow-stone Elder", who later presented him with a manuscript giving the secret precepts of wisdom and tactics and which later passed to Japan where it was studied by Yoshitsune and later Kusunoki no Masashige.
 

 
signature: ōju Gototei Kunisada ga
Soshi Shinki [= Zhuang Shi Xinchi] (壮士辛奇) fighting a tiger in the mountain (sankan ni tora utsu - 山間に虎を撃つ)
size: ōban
censor: kiwame
date: c. 1827
pub: Jōshūya Jūzō
ref: N116
same as before, other background, other publisher
pub: Nishimuraya Yohachi
ref: N139
signature: ōju Gototei Kunisada ga
Fan Kuai breaking down a door in the Emperor´s palace (Fan Kuai [漢樊噲] - 鴻門の会にて怒て轅門をやぶる)
size: ōban
censor: kiwame
date: c. 1827
pub: Nishimuraya Yohachi
ref: N4, N103, L40, p.106f
SOSHI SHINKI.  (Illustrated in van Doesberg Pl.24 and Izzard Pl.43/3).
Zhuang Shi Xinchi (Chwang Tsze in Edmunds), the governor of Pien during the Chu dynasty, shown about to dispatch a tiger with a halberd.
  HAN KWAI  (Illustrated in Izzard Pl. 43/2).  Listed in Edmunds as Fan Kw´ai, he is shown breaking down the door to save Koso and Choryo, who were dining with treacherous conspirators.
same as before, other state
ref: many thanks to Robert Pryor for the image




below the same scene by Katsukawa Shunei
signature: ōju Gototei Kunisada ga
Chu Xiang Yu (楚項羽) [Kou]
size: ōban
censor: kiwame
date: c. 1827
pub: Nishimuraya Yohachi
ref: N3
same as before, other state, background
ref: many thanks to Robert Pryor for the image
KOU.  The Chinese general Xiang Yu (Hiang Tsi in Edmunds) in the third century BC.  He is shown struggling with his horse as it shies
from the reflection of the dead Gushi.
 
     
untitled series:
signature: ōju Kunisada ga
Kurokaja Iyonokami Minamoto Yoshitsune (九郎冠者伊予守源義経)
size: ōban
censor: kiwame
date: c. 1830
pub: unidentified Daikokuya
ref: N103
signature: ōju Kunisada ga
Yokogawa Kakuhan (横川覺範)
size: ōban
censor: kiwame
date: c. 1830
pub: unidentified Daikokuya
ref: Richard Illing
signature: ōju Kunisada ga
Tawara Tota Hidesato (田原藤太秀郷)
size: ōban
censor: kiwame
date: c. 1830
pub: unidentified Daikokuya
ref: Richard Illing, N103
YOSHITSUNE standing in full armour holding a huge bow in his left hand, the flights of a sheaf of arrows appearing behind his shoulder. YOKOGAWA KAKUHAN. The giant warrior-monk who led an attack on the fleeing Yoshitsune in the hopes of a reward from Yoritomo.  He was
slain by Sato no Tadanobu who had donned Yoshitsune?s armour as a ruse and had stayed as a rearguard while his master made his escape.
TAWARA TODA HIDESATO.  Fujiwara Hidesato is shown bestriding the Mukade, a giant centipede that had been terrorising the waters of Lake Biwa.  At the request of Riujin, the dragon-king, he slew the monster with an arrow moistened with his saliva, for which he was richly rewarded.
signature: Gototei Kunisada ga
Musashibō Benkei (武藏坊辨慶)
size: ōban
censor: kiwame
date: c. 1830
pub: unidentified Daikokuya
ref: N134-1906,1220,0.1054
signature: Gototei Kunisada ga
size: ōban
censor: kiwame
date: c. 1830
pub: unidentified Daikokuya
ref: Richard Illing
signature: Gototei Kunisada ga
size: ōban
censor: kiwame
date: c. 1830
pub: unidentified Daikokuya
ref: Theo de Kreijger
MUSASHIBO BENKEI  (a copy present in the British Museum).  Benkei, shown as a very hairy giant of a man in Yamabushi garb, carrying off the great bell of the Mii temple, which is slung on his iron club. WATONAI SANKAN. Otherwise known as Kokusenya or as the pirate Coxinga, he was well known from the Kabuki play Kokusenya Kassen, where there is a scene in which he subdues a tiger with a charm. the warrior empress JINGO KOGO, ), who reputedly conquered Korea while pregnant.
     
The Loyal Retainers Who Achieved Revenge:
signature: ōju Gototei Kunisada ga
Horibe Yahei and his adopted son, Horibe Yasubei
size: ōban
censor: kiwame
date: c. 1830
pub: Iseya Rihei
ref: N78
signature: ōju Gototei Kunisada ga
Wakashima Yasuemon, Yazama Kinai
size: ōban
censor: kiwame
date: c. 1830
pub: Iseya Rihei
ref: N10
signature: ōju Gototei Kunisada ga
Oboshi Rikiya
size: ōban
censor: kiwame
date: c. 1830
pub: Iseya Rihei
ref: N10

 
signature: ōju Gototei Kunisada ga
Sato Yomoshichi, Onodera Chinai
size: ōban
censor: kiwame
date: c. 1830
pub: Iseya Rihei
ref: N10
signature: ōju Gototei Kunisada ga
size: ōban
censor: kiwame
date: c. 1830
pub: Iseya Rihei
ref: N121-11.40127a-b
 
     
A mirror of our country's renown heroes (Honchō kōmei kagami / Honchō musha kōmei kagami - 本朝高名鏡 / 本朝武者高名鑑)
 
signature: Kōchōrō Kunisada ga
Asahina Yoshihide (朝夷義秀), Goro xx (五郎時到)
size: ōban
censor: kiwame
date: c. 1835
pub: Jōshūya Kinzō
ref: N103
signature: Kōchōrō Kunisada ga
Taira no Tadamori (平忠盛)
size: ōban
censor: kiwame
date: c. 1835
pub: Jōshūya Kinzō
ref: N79, N3
 
ASAHIMA/SOGA NO GORO
Asahina grabs the lappet of the armour
of Soga no Goro, who was however, not restrained.
TAIRA NO TADAMORI.  Shows the episode where he grapples at night with a demon illuminated with flickering light only to find that he has caught an innocent old temple servant replenishing the oil lamps.  
signature: Kōchōrō Kunisada ga
Mongaku Shonin (文覚上人)
size: ōban
censor: kiwame
date: c. 1835
pub: Jōshūya Kinzō
ref: N103, N3
signature: Kōchōrō Kunisada ga
Kurō Hankan Yoshitsune (Minamoto Yoshitsune)  (九朗判官義経)
size: ōban
censor: kiwame
date: c. 1835
pub: Jōshūya Kinzō
ref: N1
signature: Kōchō Kunisada ga
Ushiwakamaru (牛若丸)
size: ōban
censor: kiwame
date: c. 1835
pub: Jōshūya Kinzō
ref: ritsu 201-2718
MONGAKU SHONIN.  Endo Morito, after mistakenly cutting off the head of Kesa-gozen, with whom he had become besotted,  doing penance under the icy waters of the Nachi waterfall.   USIWAKAMARU (the young YOSHITSUNE) being trained in the martial arts by the king of the Tengu.
signature: Kōchōrō Kunisada ga
Murakami Hikoshirō Yoshiteru (村上彦四郎義輝)
size: ōban
censor: kiwame
date: c. 1835
pub: Jōshūya Kinzō
ref: N103, N10
signature: Kōchō Kunisada ga
Rokusono Okeigi (六孫王經基) (Taira no Tsunemoto)
size: ōban
censor: kiwame
date: c. 1835
pub: Jōshūya Kinzō
ref: N3
same as before with different colouring

thanks to Geoffrey Dunn for the image
MURAKAMI HIKōshirō YOSHITERU standing in the middle of a confused tussle, treading on the neck of one of his assailants on the ground. A second being hurled over his right shoulder. ROKUSONNO.  Minamoto no Tsunemoto shown with a sword in combat with
a large dragon.
 
     
Popular actors as the 108 heroes of the Suikoden, one by one
- Suikoden goketsu Hyakuhachi Jin'ichi ko -
signature: Gototei Kunisada ga
size: ōban
censor: kiwame
date: c. 1830
pub: Kawaguchiya Shōzō
ref: ritsu 002-0774
signature: Gototei Kunisada ga
size: ōban
censor: kiwame
date: c. 1830
pub: Kawaguchiya Shōzō
ref: ritsu 100-2315
signature: Gototei Kunisada ga
size: ōban
censor: kiwame
date: c. 1830
pub: Kawaguchiya Shōzō
ref: ritsu 100-2314
scene from the battle of Dan-no-Ura
Ichikawa Danjūrō VII as Yoshitsune
night attack of the Soga brothers
Onoe Kikugorō III as Soga no Juro
night attack of the Soga brothers
Seki Sanjūrō II as Nitta no Tadatsuna, who
eventually slew Jūrō
signature: Gototei Kunisada ga
Ichikawa Danjūrō VII as ??
size: ōban
censor: kiwame
date: c. 1830
pub: Kawaguchiya Shōzō
ref: ritsu 002-0957
signature: Gototei Kunisada ga
size: ōban
censor: kiwame
date: c. 1830
pub: Kawaguchiya Shōzō
ref: ritsu 002-0954
signature: Gototei Kunisada ga
size: ōban
censor: kiwame
date: c. 1830
pub: Kawaguchiya Shōzō
ref: ritsu 002-0958
scene from the battle of Dan-no-Ura
 
scene from the battle of Dan-no-Ura
Ichikawa Danshi as the child emperor Antoku
and Iwai Kumesaburō II as ???
scene from the battle of Dan-no-Ura
Bandō Minosuke II as Taira no Tomomori
signature: Gototei Kunisada ga
Nakamura Shikan II als Gosho no Goromaru
size: ōban
censor: kiwame
date: c. 1830
pub: Kawaguchiya Shōzō
ref: N10
signature: ōju Kunisada ga

size: ōban
censor: kiwame
date: c. 1830
pub: Kawaguchiya Shōzō
ref: Richard Illing
signature: ?? Kunisada ga
Matsumoto Kōshirō V as Kagekiyo
size: ōban
censor: kiwame
date: c. 1830
pub: Kawaguchiya Shōzō
ref: N134-1908,0718,0.32
night attack of the Soga brothers
Gosho no Goromaru was Suketsune's bodyguard who captured Soga no Goro, who was later beheaded by Yoritomo's command
scene from the battle of Dan-no-Ura
Arashi Kanjuro I as Benkei
 
     
Banners for Parlor Decorations (Gohi zashiki nobori no uchi - 御誂座敷幟ノ内) Five Brightly Colored Banners (Goku saishiki gohon nobori no uchi - 極彩色五本幟ノ内)

signature: Kōchōrō Kunisada ga with seal
"Hanabusa Ittai"
the empress Jingu and her minister Takeuchi
size: nagaban
censor: kiwame
date: c. 1835
pub: Moriya Jihei
ref: thanks to Robert Pryor for the better image
signature: Kōchōrō Kunisada ga with seal
"Hanabusa Ittai"
General Zhang Fei, one of the five tiger generals
size: nagaban
censor: kiwame
date: c. 1835
pub: Moriya Jihei
ref: thanks to Robert Pryor for the better image
signature: Kōchōrō Kunisada ga with seal
"Hanabusa Ittai"
General Huang Zhong, one of the five tiger generals
size: nagaban
censor: kiwame
date: c. 1835
pub: Moriya Jihei
ref: thanks to William Pearl for the image

signature: Kōchōrō Kunisada ga with seal
"Hanabusa Ittai"
Ma Chao
size: nagaban
censor: kiwame
date: c. 1835
pub: Moriya Jihei
ref: N133
signature: Kōchōrō Kunisada ga with seal
"Hanabusa Ittai"
Zhao Yun (Liu Shan in his arms)
size: nagaban
censor: kiwame
date: c. 1835
pub: Moriya Jihei
ref: thanks to Robert Pryor for the better image
signature: Kōchōrō Kunisada ga with seal
"Hanabusa Ittai"
Guan Yu
size: nagaban
censor: kiwame
date: c. 1835
pub: Moriya Jihei
ref: N43
     
untitled series (pub. Moritaya Hanzō):
Richard Illing writes: "A series with titles and description in a rectangular cartouche with a decorated border was published by Moritaya. Of the six that I have encountered just one bears the single censor seal Hama in addition to the Kiwame seal found on the others. I deduce that these were issued at about the time of the Tempo reforms in mid-1842.
signature: Kōchō Kunisada ga
Ōmori Hikoshichi (大森彦七)
size: ōban
censor: kiwame
date: c. 1842
pub: Moritaya Hanzō
ref: N103, N3
signature: Kōchōrō Kunisada ga
Warrior, Tomoe Gozen, the wife of Kiso Yoshinaka, striking an enemy Musashi Saburo-Zaemon Arikuni
size: ōban
censor: kiwame
date: c. 1842
pub: Moritaya Hanzō
ref: N103, N3
signature: Kōchō Kunisada ga
Egara no Heida (荏柄の平太) *
size: ōban
censor: kiwame
date: c. 1842
pub: Moritaya Hanzō
ref: N103

* many thanks to Vincent Pitavy for the information
OMORI HIKOSHICHI carrying on his back the demon disguised as a beautiful woman prior to setting out to cross the river.
 
TOMOE GOZEN. After her husband Kiso no Yoshinaka was slain at the battle of Uji river, Tomoe, who is fighting with his forces, battles
in turn with Uchida Ieyoshi, Hatakeyama no Shigetada and Morishige of Musashi, all of who she defeats only, to be captured by Wada no Yoshimori.  None of these seem mentioned in the cartouche.
Text: When Lord Yoriie Held a Hunting Party in Izu Province, Egara no Heida Killed a Giant Snake in the Mountains (Yoriie kyō Izu no kuni mikari no toki Egara no Heida sanchū ni te daija o korosu - 頼家卿伊豆の国御狩のとき荏柄の平太山中にて大蛇を殺す)
 
known print, but no image
  signature: Gototei Kunisada ga
size: ōban
censor: kiwame
date: c. 1842
pub: Moritaya Hanzō
ref: Richard Illing
signature: Gototei Kunisada ga
Ōmori Hikoshichi (大森彦七)
size: ōban
censor: kiwame
date: c. 1842
pub: Moritaya Hanzō
ref: Richard Illing
WATONAI. A copy bound in an album (No.53) in the British Museum again showing the episode of the subdued tiger. HANGAKU. The daughter of Jo no Sukimori is shown in full armour helping repel the forces of Sasaki no Moritsuna, who eventually capture
her.
OMORI HIKOSHICHI. Another version showing the reflected face
of the hannya in the water.
signature: Gototei Kunisada ga
size: ōban
censor: kiwame
date: c. 1842
pub: Moritaya Hanzō
ref: Theo de Kreijger
signature: ōju Kunisada ga
size: ōban
censor: kiwame
date: c. 1842
pub: Moritaya Hanzō
ref: Theo de Kreijger
signature: Kōchōrō Kunisada ga
size: ōban
censor: kiwame
date: c. 1830
pub: Moritaya Hanzō
ref: N43
another version of  TOMOE GOZEN WATONAI SANKAN subduing the tiger with a riffle. ?

 
signature: Kōchō Kunisada ga
size: ōban
censor: kiwame
date: c. 1842
pub: Moritaya Hanzō
ref: thanks to Alwin van Esveld
signature: Gotoei Kunisada ga
size: ōban
censor: kiwame
date: c. 1842
pub: Moritaya Hanzō
ref: N58
 
? Kaido-maru (Kintoki)  

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Utagawa Kunisada (Toyokuni III) - series and prints