Ukiyo-e Prints

浮世絵版画

Port Townsend, Washington

SHUNBAISAI HOKUEI

春梅斉

北英

しゅんばいさい

ほくえい

fl. 1829-1837

Nakamura Utaemon III

中村歌右衛門三代

as Kumagai Jiro Naozane

熊 谷 次 郎 直 実

 Play: "Chronicle of the battle of Ichinotani"

Ichinotani futaba gunki

一谷嫩軍記

いちたにふたばぐんき

One source identifies this play as

Suma no Miyako (Genpei Tsutsuji)

須磨都源平躑躅

すまのみやこ (げんぺいつつじ)

Date: 1835, 11th Month

Size: 14 3/4" x 10 1/4"

Signature: Shunbaisai Hokuei ga

春梅斉北英

しゅんばいさいほくえい

Publisher: Honsei (Honya Seishichi)

夲清

ほんせい

しゅんばいさい

夲清

Signature: Shunbaisai Hokuei

ga

ほくえい

Honsei

Publisher's mark

Nakamura Utaemon III and the Osaka Stage

Utaemon was the hottest thing to hit the Osaka stage in the early decades of the nineteenth century. His career coincided with the development of the oban actor print. Capable of performing both male and female roles his imagery came to dominate the majority of prints being produced for quite some time. Not only did he perform in his home base of Osaka, but he also was an influence in Edo. However, his time spent in the shogun's capitol was not exactly smooth. Competing fans of other actors brawled with Utaemon's devotees to the point that some of them had to be arrested. In Fact, Utaemon suffered a shiner from one such encounter. When he left Edo before the end of his contract he described it as "leaving the darkness for the light of day." In time he was forced to return to Edo to complete his agreement, but this time he showed up in disguise as his own fictitious twin brother Nakamura Shikan (中村芝翫 or なかむらしガン).*

"Edo's loss was Osaka's gain"

His fans turned out in droves to welcome him home in 1815. His reception was said to be more spectacular than Osaka's greatest festival. Imitation and groveling were not uncommon: at one restaurant the staff wore Utaemon's favorite color; pastries called tsuru-bishi (鶴菱 or つるびし) were modelled on his family crest of a crane within a lozenge shape; "One merchant insisted that his clients cover any wild orange-blossom crests that might appear on their robes" because that motif was used by one of Utaemon's chief rivals.

Utaemon was a capable and popular writer of poetry and plays and was connected with the other literary figures of Osaka.

Source Material for the information found above comes from Osaka Prints, Dean J. Schwaab, Rizzoli, 1989, pp. 20-22.

*When I read about Utaemon's attempted ruse to come back as his supposed twin brother Nakamura shikan to ease his safe return  onto the Edo stage I was reminded of the circumstances surrounding the screen death of one of the popular characters of the "Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman" television show in the late 70s. Garth Gimbel, played by Martin Mull (マルティン.マル), was an abusive husband who died after his wife shoved him into a closet to slow his attack. Little did we know that he would be impaled on an old, fake Christmas tree. As I recall there was such an outcry from the fans that sometime later Mull was brought back as the deceased Garth's twin brother Barth who went on to a successful career as the host of his own television talk show.

Even Shakespeare was not above such switcheroos. Why not Nakamura Utaemon and his brother Barth...er, I mean, Nakamura Shikan?

"Despite his short stature, husky voice, and unprepossessing looks, his great skill, inventive methods, and exceeding cleverness bowled audiences over in Edo, Kyoto, and Osaka."

Quoted from: New Kabuki Encyclopedia: A Revised Adaptation of kabuki jiten, Samuel L. Leiter, Greenwood Press, 1997, p. 451.