Artist: Utagawa Kunisada II (1823-1880)
Title: Lady Tokiwa Gozen Fleeing
Date: ca. 1863
Medium: Full color woodblock print; ink and color on paper
Musco Collection

Famous kabuki actor, Kawarazaki Gonjuro, seen on the right, and another unknown actor are depicted onstage. They are reenacting a scene from the play, “Joro no makoto Osada no chuko,” part of the larger Tale of Heike. The woman on the right flees through the snowy night with her children tucked in her billowing robes. She turns back to clutch at her wayward hat, and sees a warrior hot in pursuit. This woman is Tokiwa Gozen, concubine to the warlord, Minamoto Yoshitomo. After Yoshitomo’s defeat, Lady Gozen is forced to flee with her three sons in order to save their lives. Due to her bravery, one of these sons will one day become the shogun, Minamoto Yoshitsune.

Utagawa Kunisada II was one of ukiyo-e’s premier designers of series of yakusha-e, prints which depicted famous kabuki actors onstage. A prolific artist, Kunisada’s series numbered over 40 at the time of his death. Like his master Utagawa Kunisada I, his speciality is yakusha-e, but Kunisada II also designed series including portraits of famous beauties, scenes from literature, and erotic images.

Other impressions of this print can be found at the Waseda University Theatre Museum.

Posted by: Meghan Doody
November 5, 2020