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The Barrier Ticket of Love, a Courtesan Play (Keisei Koi no Sekifuda)


「けいせい恋関札」
Isshusai Kunikazu (Japanese, active about 1848–1868)
Ichiyôtei Yoshitaki (Japanese, 1841–1899)
Japanese
Edo period
1865 (Genji 2/Keiô 1), 2nd month

Medium/Technique Woodblock print (nishiki-e); ink, color and metallic pigment on paper
Dimensions Vertical chûban, two-tier octaptych; 49.9 × 71 cm (19 5/8 × 27 15/16 in.)
Credit Line William Sturgis Bigelow Collection
Accession Number11.35810a-h
NOT ON VIEW
ClassificationsPrints

Catalogue Raisonné Kitagawa, "Bosuton bijutsukan shozô Kamigata-e mokuroku" (Kansai daigaku, 2007), p. 119; Ikeda bunko, Kamigata yakusha-e shûsei, vol. 4 (2003), #634
DescriptionUpper half by Kunikazu, lower half by Yoshitaki.
Actors, from top right: Nakamura Jakuemon I as Edo Yosaku, Ôtani Tomomatsu I as Modoriuma Hachizô, Nakamura Nakasuke II as Hinuka no Hachizô, Jitsukawa Enjaku I as the packhorse driver Yosaku; from bottom right: Arashi Hinasuke VII as Satake Jûnai, Jitsukawa Gakujûrô I as Iwakura Tatewaki, Jitsukawa Enzaburô II as Sasaki Genjirô and Jitsukawa Yaozô I as the footman Gengosa, and Ogino Senjo I as Shigenoi.
Play: Keisei Koi no Sekifuda (The Barrier Ticket of Love, a Courtesan Play)
Theater: Naka
「けいせい恋関札」

上段、右から
「江戸与作 中村雀右衛門」
「戻り馬八蔵 大谷友松」
「ひぬかノ八造 中村仲助」
「馬方与作 実川延若」
下段、右から
「佐竹十内 嵐雛助」
「岩倉帯刀 実川額十郎」
「佐々木源次郎 実川延三郎、足軽源五左 実川八百蔵」
「重の井 荻野扇女」
Signed Jô yonmai (top four sheets) Utagawa Kunikazu, ge yonmai (bottom four sheets) Ichiyôsai Yoshitaki (both signatures on lower right sheet)
上四枚歌川国員、 下四枚一養斎芳瀧
ProvenanceBy 1911, purchased by William Sturgis Bigelow (b. 1850–d. 1926), Boston [see note 1]; 1911, gift of Bigelow to the MFA. (Accession Date: January 19, 2005)

NOTES:
[1] Much of Bigelow's collection of Asian art was formed during his residence in Japan between 1882 and 1889, although he also made acquisitions in Europe and the United States. Bigelow deposited many of these objects at the MFA in 1890 before donating them to the Museum's collection at later dates.