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An original antique Japanese ukiyo-e woodblock print by Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1797–1861), depicting the kabuki actor Nakamura Utaemon in the role of Matsuōmaru (松王丸) from Sugawara Denju Tenarai Kagami (菅原伝授手習鑑, “Sugawara and the Secrets of Calligraphy”). Dating from approximately 1847–1852, the print is signed Ichiyūsai Kuniyoshi ga (一勇斎国芳画) and belongs to a multi-sheet set illustrating the celebrated Ga no iwai (賀の祝, “Celebration of Longevity”) scene.
The ukiyo-e comes framed and ready to hang.
Nakamura Utaemon is shown as Matsuōmaru, wrapped in a deep indigo robe patterned with crisp blue striping.
He carries another figure on his back while standing against a garden setting with a flowering tree, bamboo fencing and a pale warm sky.
The carried figure is very likely the aged Shiratayū, father of the three brothers and the man whose seventieth-birthday celebration provides the setting for the Ga no iwai scene.
The gesture introduces an unusual note of filial care into a character whose dramatic role is otherwise defined by divided loyalty, political duty and eventual sacrifice.
The print presents Nakamura Utaemon in the role of Matsuōmaru, one of the three central brothers in Sugawara Denju Tenarai Kagami.
Kuniyoshi gives the actor a powerful, compressed silhouette.
Matsuōmaru leans forward under the weight of the figure carried on his back, while the large folds of the robe wrap around both bodies.
The dark indigo garment is articulated with fine blue striping, creating rhythm and depth across the costume.
His face remains sharply visible beneath the weight of the composition, with the stylized expression and theatrical intensity associated with kabuki portraiture.
The result is both a portrait of a celebrated actor and a concentrated image of Matsuōmaru’s complex dramatic identity.
Sugawara Denju Tenarai Kagami (菅原伝授手習鑑, “Sugawara and the Secrets of Calligraphy”) is one of the three great historical dramas of the bunraku and kabuki traditions.
The play is loosely based on the downfall of the Heian-period scholar and statesman Sugawara no Michizane (845–903).
Michizane is falsely accused through political intrigue engineered by his rival Fujiwara no Shihei and is exiled to Dazaifu.
After his death, he becomes revered as Tenjin, the deity of scholarship and learning.
Within this larger political tragedy, the play develops one of kabuki’s most powerful family narratives through three brothers whose loyalties place them on opposing sides of the conflict.
The celebrated subplot follows a set of triplet brothers, sons of the retired ox-cart driver Shiratayū.
Each brother serves a different master as the political crisis deepens.
Matsuōmaru serves the persecutor of Sugawara no Michizane.
Umeōmaru serves the disgraced Michizane himself.
Their third brother, Sakuramaru, becomes trapped between the loyalties that divide the family.
Their names form an important symbolic structure throughout the play.
Matsu means pine.
Ume means plum.
Sakura means cherry.
These three trees recur visually and poetically across the drama, linking the brothers even while duty and politics pull them apart.
The present sheet belongs to a multi-sheet composition illustrating Ga no iwai (賀の祝), the “Celebration of Longevity.”
The scene takes place at Shiratayū’s home in Sata village during the celebration of his seventieth birthday.
For a brief moment, the divided brothers return to the family setting.
It is one of the final moments of apparent domestic calm before their conflicting loyalties break the family apart.
Against that background, the act of carrying an older figure on his back becomes especially evocative.
The figure is very likely Shiratayū himself, which would make the gesture one of filial care during the father’s own birthday celebration.
The identification is highly plausible within the context of the scene, but the supplied information does not establish it with absolute certainty.
Matsuōmaru occupies one of the most difficult positions in the drama.
Outwardly, he serves the enemy of Sugawara no Michizane.
His brothers therefore stand in opposition to him.
Yet his role becomes progressively more complicated as the story develops.
In a later act, Matsuōmaru and his wife Chiyo make a devastating sacrifice in order to protect Michizane’s son.
This conflict between public duty and private loyalty makes Matsuōmaru one of the tragedy’s most emotionally complex characters.
Seen within that larger narrative, Kuniyoshi’s portrait acquires a deeper significance.
The figure is powerful, but the scene also emphasizes burden, care and responsibility.
Kuniyoshi did not crowd the entire family reunion into one single image.
Instead, he gave each actor an individual sheet.
When the complete group was assembled, the separate prints formed a continuous garden scene.
The bamboo fence extended across the different sheets.
The graded sky created another visual link.
The three named trees associated with Matsuōmaru, Umeōmaru and Sakuramaru appeared across the set.
This format allowed each actor to dominate his own composition while preserving the larger theatrical unity.
The present print therefore functions both as an independent actor portrait and as part of a broader visual narrative.
The garden provides an important visual framework for the composition.
Behind Matsuōmaru, a blue bamboo fence creates a repeated structure of vertical and horizontal lines.
Above him, flowering branches spread across the warm-toned sky.
The lower ground is rendered in a cool blue-green, establishing a strong contrast with the warmer upper section.
The garden also connects this sheet visually with the other prints in the multi-sheet set.
Kuniyoshi therefore uses the setting not merely as background decoration, but as a device that binds the individual actors into one shared theatrical space.
Matsuōmaru’s costume is one of the defining visual elements of the print.
The robe is dominated by deep indigo and black.
Fine blue stripes move across its surface in repeated bands, giving the garment both texture and visual depth.
Because the costume wraps around the actor and the figure carried on his back, the pattern becomes an important part of the overall structure of the composition.
The dark garment also contrasts strongly with the pale skin, warm background and cool garden setting.
The surviving color is especially notable for an actor print of this date.
One of the most distinctive elements of the print is the second figure carried on Matsuōmaru’s back.
The body is partially concealed by the large indigo robe, making the relationship between the two figures visually compact and intimate.
Within the context of the Ga no iwai scene, the figure is very likely Shiratayū, the elderly father whose seventieth birthday brings the family together.
If so, the gesture introduces a particularly human dimension to Matsuōmaru’s portrayal.
The character usually occupies a world of political duty and divided allegiance.
Here, however, the composition emphasizes physical support and filial responsibility.
Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1797–1861) was born Yoshisaburō in Edo, the son of a silk dyer.
Around 1811, he entered the Utagawa school as a pupil of Utagawa Toyokuni I.
Kuniyoshi achieved major fame with his 1827 series depicting the 108 heroes of the Chinese novel Suikoden.
The series established him as one of the foremost designers of musha-e, or warrior prints.
His artistic range, however, extended far beyond warrior imagery.
He was equally accomplished in actor portraiture, theatrical scenes and other areas of ukiyo-e.
Alongside Hiroshige and Kunisada, Kuniyoshi is regarded as one of the last great masters of the ukiyo-e tradition.
The kabuki stage gave Kuniyoshi an ideal subject for his strengths as a designer.
Actor portraits allowed him to combine powerful bodies, dramatic gesture, elaborate textiles and highly expressive faces.
In the present work, these qualities are concentrated into a strongly unified figure.
The large indigo robe creates the dominant visual mass.
The actor’s face emerges sharply from the dark costume.
The second figure adds physical and emotional weight.
The result is a theatrical portrait that depends as much on design and silhouette as on facial characterization.
The work is executed as a nishiki-e, or full-color Japanese woodblock print.
This technique required the careful coordination of multiple carved woodblocks.
A principal key block established the black outlines.
Additional blocks printed the separate areas of color.
In this work, the process produces the deep indigo robe, the fine blue striping, the warm sky, the blue-green ground, flesh tones, red accents and the garden elements.
The surviving impression remains strong and clean, with the key block sharply defined.
The print is in vertical ōban tate-e format and measures approximately 36 × 24.5 cm.
The tall format was especially effective for actor portraiture.
It allowed Kuniyoshi to present Matsuōmaru almost full-length while still including the second figure, the garden fence, flowering branches and inscriptions.
The actor’s crossed legs and forward-leaning torso create a strong central movement.
Above, the flowering branches complete the composition and balance the dark mass of the robe below.
The print is signed Ichiyūsai Kuniyoshi ga (一勇斎国芳画).
The signature identifies the work as a design by Utagawa Kuniyoshi.
The print dates from Kōka 4 to Kaei 5 (1847–1852).
This places it within Kuniyoshi’s mature period, when his command of actor portraiture, pattern, figure design and theatrical composition was fully developed.
The confident handling of the costume and the compact interaction between the two figures reflect that maturity.
This is an original antique Japanese woodblock print, not a modern reproduction or later decorative reprint.
Its age forms an essential part of its historical character and authenticity.
Original ukiyo-e of this period have survived through generations of ownership, handling, storage and display.
With works on paper that are more than a century and a half old, gentle toning, occasional small marks, light creasing or faint handling traces may naturally occur.
These are normal characteristics of authentic historical prints.
They should be understood within the context of an original period object rather than compared with the appearance of a newly manufactured reproduction.
The print is in excellent condition throughout.
The color is unusually well preserved for a Kuniyoshi actor print of this date.
The deep indigo of Matsuōmaru’s robe remains strong.
The fine blue striping is crisply printed and clearly defined.
The black of the actor’s wig retains considerable depth.
The impression is strong and clean, with the key block remaining sharp.
These qualities make the state of preservation particularly noteworthy for an original mid-nineteenth-century woodblock print.
The ukiyo-e is individually framed and sold complete with its frame.
It arrives ready to hang.
The dark frame and light mount create a clean presentation that places full emphasis on Kuniyoshi’s original composition.
The neutral framing works especially well with the deep indigo robe, cool blue-green ground, warm sky and flowering branches.
The print can therefore be displayed immediately while preserving the visual character of the original antique work.
This print brings together several qualities that make Utagawa Kuniyoshi one of the defining masters of nineteenth-century ukiyo-e.
It combines a major kabuki subject, a powerful actor portrait, sophisticated textile pattern, a complex family narrative and a composition designed as part of a larger multi-sheet theatrical scene.
Matsuōmaru is also one of the most emotionally significant characters in Sugawara Denju Tenarai Kagami.
His outward service to Michizane’s enemy and his deeper loyalty to Michizane create one of the drama’s most painful conflicts.
The image gains additional emotional force from the second figure carried on his back, very likely Shiratayū, suggesting filial duty within the family reunion of Ga no iwai.
The condition is particularly noteworthy.
The deep indigo robe, crisp blue striping, strong black wig and sharp key block preserve much of the visual impact Kuniyoshi intended.
As an original mid-nineteenth-century actor print by one of the great masters of ukiyo-e, it combines theatrical history, woodblock craftsmanship, narrative depth and strong decorative presence in a single work.
An original antique Japanese ukiyo-e by Utagawa Kuniyoshi depicting Nakamura Utaemon as Matsuōmaru (松王丸) in the celebrated Ga no iwai scene from Sugawara Denju Tenarai Kagami (菅原伝授手習鑑). Dating from Kōka 4–Kaei 5 (1847–1852) and signed Ichiyūsai Kuniyoshi ga (一勇斎国芳画), the print shows Matsuōmaru in a dark indigo robe with crisp blue striping, carrying another figure on his back in a garden setting with flowering branches and bamboo fencing. The carried figure is very likely Shiratayū, whose seventieth-birthday celebration provides the setting for the scene. Executed as an ōban tate-e nishiki-e measuring approximately 36 × 24.5 cm, the print formed part of a multi-sheet theatrical composition. It survives in excellent condition, with unusually strong color, deep indigo, crisp blue striping, a rich black wig and a sharp, clean impression. Original antique Japanese woodblock print, not a modern reproduction. Individually framed and supplied ready to hang.
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