By Daniel Fulco, Ph.D., Agnita M. Stine Schreiber Curator

Dear Readers, this is the 200^th WeekendArt, which will be my final edition of the program. Over the last several years, I thank you for your interest in these features and have enjoyed sharing my insights with you about works of art in our collection.

To mark the special exhibition Women in the Art of Ukiyo-e  on view through January 12, 2025, I hope that you enjoy this print in our collection. If you visit the museum, this work is on view in the exhibition.

Kubo Shunman (Japanese, 1757–1820)
Oboshi Yuranosuke at the Ichiriki Teahouse,
from Act VII (Schichidanme) of The Storehouse of Loyal Retainers (Kanadehon Chūshingura), 1780–94
Likely a 19th-century impression
Color woodblock print (triptych); ink on paper
15″h x 40″w
Collection of Washington County Museum of Fine Arts,
Gift of Dennis Shaw, 2023.7.4
 
This work represents of a scene from Act VII of The Storehouse of Loyal Retainers, a parody bunraku (puppet theater) show and later a kabuki play. The Storehouse was based upon a fictionalized historical account of the revenge of the forty-seven rōnin (wandering samurai without a daimyo or lord), which occurred in 1703. The story and play concern the rōnin and protagonist, Oboshi Yuranosuke, who, along with his comrades, are on a mission to avenge the death of their master, daimyo Asano Naganori, who was killed by Lord Moronao. Pretending to lead a debauched life so that no one will suspect him of planning a vendetta against Lord Moronao, Yuranosuke, accepts an invitation to the Ichiriki Teahouse by Moronao’s retainer, Ono Kudayu. In the sheet on the right, Yuranosuke acts the fool, drinking and playing a game of blind man’s bluff with the courtesans and geisha (entertainers). Blindfolded and unaware of Moronao’s samurai retainers (who will arrive soon and spy on him), he steps forward with outstretched arms as the women watch him eagerly.
 
Unlike other artists such as Katsushika Hokusai and Utagawa Kunisada, who elected to reveal Moronao’s men (see the prints below; the work completed after Hokusai is on view in the Floating Beauty exhibition), Kubo Shunman keeps the viewer in suspense by encouraging us to imagine the subsequent events. He added notable details of the teahouse’s entertainments, including the women in the center sheet (holding a shamisen or traditional stringed instrument), a courtesan showing a book to her companion nearby, and two men conversing in a garden (seen in the left sheet). In contrast to Shunman and Kunisada, the artist who copied Hokusai’s original composition represented Yuranosuke in the foreground, raising his sword dramatically and preparing to strike and kill Kudayu. Nearby, a sancha (teahouse waitress) and another retainer look on at the fight.
 
Shunman was both an artist and a writer. He produced ukiyo-e prints and paintings, gesaku novels (a genre focusing on playful or mocking themes), as well as kyōka (also focusing on parodies) and haiku (short-form) poetry. Shunman stopped making commercial prints in 1790 to focus on deluxe commissioned prints, and provided poetry for the prints of Kitagawa Utamaro (1753–1806), Chōbunsa Eishi (1756–1829), and Hokusai.

After Katsushika Hokusai (Japanese, 1760–1849)
At the Ichiriki Teahouse in Gion (Gion Ichiriki Jaya), from Act VII (Schichidanme) of The Storehouse of Loyal Retainers (Kanadehon Chūshingura), c. 1806,
printed c. 1960
Woodblock print; ink on paper
11 x 15 13/16 in.
Collection of Reading Public Museum,
Museum purchase, 2013.20.2.2C

Utagawa Kunisada (Toyokuni III), Japanese, 1786–1865
Yuranosuke Playing the Fool at the Ichiriki Teahouse, from Act VII (Schichidanme) of The Storehouse of Loyal Retainers (Kanadehon Chūshingura), 1847–52
Color woodblock print; ink on paper
Image courtesy of Fuji Arts