UKIYO-E - Original Toyohara Kunichika (1835-1900) - Nagamachi Noura No Ba - 1883

This print comes from a private collection and has been professionally framed. I'm leaving the frame on for now to prevent damage. However, the print will be shipped unframed.

Original Toyohara Kunichika (1835-1900) triptych from 1883.

An actual massacre in 1698 may have been the source of Danshichi mono. A later murder by a Sakai fishmonger in an Osaka back alley in 1744 seems to have inspired the famous murder scene in Natsumatsuri Naniwa Kagami.

The first Kabuki performance of a Danshichi role took place in the 11th month of 1698 in the play Homeless Danshichi (Yadonashi Danshichi), when the Kyoto-born actor and former professional samisen player Kataoka Nizaemon I (1656–1715), founder of the Kataoka acting line, performed Danshichi at the Shioya Kurōemon no shibai in Osaka.

Tattooed Danshichi prints appeared during the so-called 'Suikoden craze', sparked by the publication of the New Illustrated Edition of the Suikoden series (Shinpen Suikogaden: 1805–07 and 1828–38).

Summary of Natsu Matsuri
Danshichi Kurobei, a fishmonger and otokadate in Sakai, is imprisoned for wounding a hengeman of the samurai Ōtori Sagaemon. Danshichi's former master, Tamashima Heidayū, intervenes and has the sentence commuted from execution to a short prison sentence and banishment from Sakai. To atone for his debt, Danshichi promises to protect Heidayū's disinherited son, the impoverished and feeble Tamashima Isonojō, the lover of the courtesan Kotoura. Shortly after his release from prison, Danshichi stops the lecherous Sagaemon from molesting Kotoura and brutally abuses him. Sagaemon runs away, sending back two servants and an otokadate named Issun Tokubei, a resident of Tamashima who also happens to be in debt to Heidayū. Danshichi and Tokubei fight until Danshichi's wife, Okaji, separates them. When Tokubei discovers that Danshichi is an ally of Isonojō, he can no longer side with Sagaemon, and the two otokodates swear fealty to each other by symbolically exchanging a sleeve of each other's robe.

Meanwhile, Mikawaya Geheiji, Danshichi's father-in-law, hatches a plan to kidnap Kotoura and sell her to Sagaemon. He pretends to have been sent by Danshichi to retrieve Kotoura from the house of another otokodate and friend of Danshichi, Tsurifune Sabu, whereupon Geheiji and his palanquins take the unsuspecting courtesan away. Minutes later, when Danshichi arrives and learns of the kidnapping, he sets out to rescue Kotoura.

Danshichi encounters Giheiji in one of Kabuki's most famous episodes, the Backstreet Scene in Nagamachi (Nagamachi noura no ba). He persuades Giheiji to send Kotoura back to Sabu's house in exchange for 30 gold coins (ryō), which Danshichi doesn't have. Instead, he gives Giheiji stones wrapped in cloth. When Giheiji discovers he's been swindled, he mercilessly insults Danshichi and strikes him with the otokodate's sandal, slashing Danshichi's forehead. As their argument escalates, sounds of revelry emerge from an approaching Kozū Shrine Festival parade in Dōtonbori, the exuberant music providing an inappropriately carnivalesque accompaniment to the action in the gloomy backstreet. Danshichi draws his sword and accidentally slashes Geheiji, who cries, "Murderer!" Overcome with rage, Danshichi, his hair falling loose to his shoulders, strips down to a red loincloth, revealing his tattooed body. As he approaches his prey, Danshichi assumes "assassin poses" (koroshi no mie) to counter Giheiji's panic and pleas.

Finally, after begging for forgiveness, Danshichi ends the old man's life with a sword thrust. Danshichi then washes the blood spatter and Giheiji's muddy handprints from his body with water from a nearby well. He escapes by mingling with the large crowd of revelers.

At Danshichi's house, Tokubei informs the fugitive that the police suspect him of murder. To protect Danshichi from parricide, Tokubei attempts to seduce Okaji as a ruse to break up their marriage. The two otokodates clash and slit their previously exchanged kimono sleeves, but Sabu intervenes. When the police arrive, Tokubei, claiming to have Danshichi's trust, convinces an office that he should be the first to confront him. Tokubei brings a policeman's baton (jitte or gimbō, "silver stick" in theatrical terms) and a rope to tie Danshichi up. Once on the roof, however, Tokubei exchanges the rope for a string of coins, and the two reconciled otokodates jump into the river bordering the house, swim across, and escape to Tamashima.

Specifications
Artist: Toyohara Kunichika

Play: Natsumatsuri Naniwa Kagami
Scene: Back Street Scene in Nagamachi (Nagamachi noura no ba)
Period: Meiji 16, 1883