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Overview
Utagawa Kunisada (1786-1865) was the most popular and prolific designer of ukiyo-e in 19th century Japan. He is estimated to have produced between 20,000 and 25,000 designs for woodblock prints during his lifetime. His reputation was clinched when he was in his early twenties; it was as great as that of his teacher Toyokuni I, and lifelong. His status was largely unchallenged in his lifetime, though his reputation was long unfairly neglected because of cyclical attitudes to Japanese prints. Frank Whitford recognised this early on: ‘Perhaps because of his huge output… Kunisada has not been treated well by the historians of ukiyo-e, although much of his work… reached the highest standards.’ His reputation was rescued considerably later than those of Hiroshige and Kuniyoshi, really only dating from the 1990s through the scholarship of Jan van Doesburg and Sebastian Izzard. Kunisada showed the versatility typical of print designers; while best known for his depictions of kabuki and his yakusha-e actor prints, as here, he was also a specialist in bijin-ga (beautiful women), illustrations from The Tales of Genji and more luxurious surimono prints.
Kunisada's portrait of the retainer Hayano Kanpei comes from the famous kabuki play Kanadehon Chūshingura (The treasury of loyal retainers), an 11-act vendetta saga that accommodates the theatrical gamut, from heart-breaking love stories to grisly murders, earthy sub-plots and bloody battles. Te Papa's collection also currently has four scenes from the play, all by Keisai Eisen, a celebrated contemporary of Kunisada, and the death of En'ya Hangan by Utagawa Kunyoshi. Here, Kanpei is presented in dramatic mie pose, feet heel to heel, huddled under the rain and looking wistfully to his left. His attitude is significant: Kanpei occupies an ambivalent place in the Chūshingura narrative. His neglect of his duties in Act II was a contributing factor to the fate of Hangan in Act IV, brilliantly depicted in Kuniyoshi's print (Te Papa 2016-0008-37), resulting in Kanpei fleeing to the countryside in shame. Later he vowed to support the loyal league of rōnin (leaderless samurai), vowing revenge on En'ya's foes. Indeed, Kanpei allowed his father-in-law, Yoichibei, to sell his daughter Okaru to a Gion brothel to raise money to support the vendetta. In this scene from Act V, he is seen just at the moment when he thinks he has shot a man while hunting in the forest. Later, believing he has killed Yoichibei, Kanpei too commits seppuku (ritualised disembowelment) just as his honour is reconfirmed. Chūshingura was so popular that Kunisada's viewers would have had little difficulty in recognising the reasons for Kanpei's quizzical gaze.
Sources:
David Bell and Mark Stocker, 'Rising sun at Te Papa: the Heriot collection of Japanese art', https://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/document/10608
Frank Whitford, Japanese Prints and Western Painters (London, 1977).
Dr Mark Stocker Curator, Historical International Art May 2019