Kunichika Yosha Bunko print and scan
Kunichika's Yūbin Hōchi shinbun 5b
YHS No. 558, 1875 (incident), 1875 (print)
Virtuous wife Rika's illness

Story translation

茲(こゝ)に小林が末の娘に名と里加(りか)といつる節婦(せっぷ)あり。・・・

Here [upon] in Kobayashi's youngest daughter is a virtuous lady called Rika. . . .

[Transcribed and translated by William Wetherall]

Cartouches

This print has 7 cartouches plus an approval date seal.

Title cartouche

Top-middle banner in story cartouche
郵便 / 報知新聞 / 第五百 // 五十八号
Yūbin / Hōchi shinbun / Dai 558 gō
Postal / Hōchi news / Issue number 558

Issue cartouches

Lower-left margin
第五號下
Dai-gogō-ka
Lower (second, last) [part] of Number 5 issue [in series]

Upper-right corner of story cartouche
前号の / つづき
Zengō no / tsudzuki
Continuation of previous (upper, lower) [part of Number 5] issue

Notice use of both 號 and simplified 号.
Whether by same brusher unclear.

Drawer's cartouche

Lower-right margin above publisher's cartouche
豊原國周筆
Toyohara Kunichika hitsu
Toyohara Kunichika, brush

Toyohara Kunichika (豊原国周 1835-1900) was a disciple of Toyohara Chikunobu (豊原周信) and Utagawa Kunisada (歌川国貞 1786-1865, who later became Utagawa Toyokuni III 三代目歌川豊国). Kunichika derived his name from both of his mentors. He was born Ōshima Yasohachi (大島八十八). His family later adopted his mother's former family name Arakawa (荒川).

Publisher's cartouche

Lower-right margin below drawer's cartouche
Logo + 山本
Logo + Yamamoto

The publishers logo consists of a "Yama mon" (山紋) of the "deyamagata" (出山形) or "sashi-kanayama-gata" 差し金山形) variety plus 久. The logo represented the Eikyūdō (栄久堂) publishing house, whose progenitor appears to have been Yamamoto Kyūbee (山本久兵衛), a Kyōto publisher with a branch in Edo, which became Tōkyō, where this print was produced. Hence the logo was probably read "Yamahyū". The proprietor at the time was Yamamoto Heikichi (山本平吉 bd ukn), aka Yamamotoya Heikichi (山本屋平吉) and Yamahei (山平). Eikyūdō was a "jihon-doiya" (地本問屋 jihon-donya) kind, or a "local (Edo/Tokyo) book dealer" -- a publisher and seller of mainly the more popular medium and small sizes of books, mostly novels, humorous stories, picture books and such. However, Yamamoto Heiichi was mainly known as a publisher and distributed of prints designed by a number of major mid 19th-century woodblock artists, including Kunichiku, but also his mentors.

Andreas Marks
Japanese Woodblock Prints
(Artists, Publishers and Masterworks: 1680-1900)
Tuttle Publishing, 2010

The firm named Eiky??d?? was first operated by someone called Yamamoto Ky??bei from around 1805 to 1811. The firm was then taken over by Yamamotoya Heikichi, who may have been a relative. In VI/1865, the next generation Kinjir?? inherited both the business and the name Heikichi. Yamamotoya Heikichi was active in most types of prints and although his output was large, unlike other publishers he did not publish many books. The business published almost 800 designs by Kunisada's. From the start, Yamamotoya Heikichi published prints of actors and bijin-ga employing most of the Utagawa school of artists. He also produced Kunisada's series based on the Genji story Genji monogatari Illustrations of Genji Incense Genji-k?? no zu in the mid 1840s. One of the most famous series of prints of warriors published by Yamamotoya Heikichi was The One Hundred and Eight Heroes of the Popular Suikoden Ts??zoku suikoden g??ketsu hyakuhachinin no uchi by Kuniyoshi, published in the 1830s and 1840s. from Marks, Andreas: Japanese Woodblock Prints, Artists, Publishers and Masterworks 1680-1900: Tuttle Publishing, Tokyo, 2010.
Aratamein

Contemporary approval seals -- "aratamein" (改印) or "kaiin" -- typically included a graph representing "aratame" (改) and graphs representing the sexegenary branch for the year and the month of the year on the lunar calendar.

The seal on this print appears to 8th month of the year of the dog (戌), which would make it about September 1874.

Seal shows "inu" (戌) on right and "hachi" (八) on left, which corresponds to 8th month of the 7th year (dog-year) of Meiji, i.e., August 1874 -- assuming that the seal dates reflected the Solar calendar dates introduced from the year before. If a lunar date, then perhaps closer to September 1874. Story cartouche characters 小林郡平 Kobayashi Gunpei 郡平妻 Gunpei tsuma [Gunpei's wife] 節婦 / 里加女 [Seppu / Satoka jo]

Meiji 9-nen 3-gatsu 2-ka ni Yokohama
Nakadori 1-chome no ryokaiya Sau-
da Kinsaku no uchi no detchi Asajiro wa 3-zen-
en no kin o saifu e iri docho 4-chome no ryo-
kaeya Chuuemon no mae o motte toori shi ni /
Chuuemon yobiiri nikai e age nyobo ya gejo
ni you o ihitsuke omote e idashi oki ki sono
mama ni Asajiro o kubirikoroshi
ura no komebitsu ni shigai o iri nawa de
girigiri to karagete oite / modo-
ri shi gejo ni ihitsuke 3-chome Anbee
no uchi e motase konnichi shindaikagiri o itasaru ni
tsuki / komebitsu hitotsu on-atsukari kudasare to moshi
ato de oroshitakou suru tsumori no
tokoro ten no ami nite roken ni oyobimashita

Commentary

The print shows, right to left, the victim and the culprit.

Right: Apprentice Asajiro, played by Ichikawa Ichijiro.

Left: Amamiya Chuemon, played by Bando [Tsuruzo?].

The logo on Asajiro's money bag was probably meant to be read "kinshō" (if not "kaneshō" or even "kanemasa") and mean that the "gold" or "money" (kin / kane) is "genuine" (shō / masa).

The story represents a performance of a kabuki dramatization (狂言 kyōgen) of a murder incident which occurred in Yokohama on 2 March 1876. A seemingly shrewd money changer attempted to hide his heinous act. But fate caught up with as the tragicomedy became a morality play.

See Dramatizations of news for more examples of early Meiji prints that reflect how current events inspired theater.

Print particulars

The print of the Yokohama murder case was published on 24 October 1876, according to its notification (otodoke) date, which means the incident was adapted into a kabuki drama within about half a year.

Its marked price was 2-sen 5-rin (2.5 sen) -- which was about 0.5 over the usual price for a single-sheet oban print at the time. So it was not an advertisement for the performance but a souvenir, possibly sold at the theater as play guides are today.

The drama was probably part of a longer program. It may have been performed with a feature play or two -- the equivalent of a crime report in a newsreel at a movie theater before the age of televsion.

The drawer was Utagawa Kunimatsu (1855-1944) of Yokohama, Yoshidamachi, 1-chome 9-banchi. Kunimatsu, the son of Kunitsuru (1807-1878) and younger brother of Kunitsuru II, drew nishikie depicting customs and manners, world affairs, and newspaper illustrations. He went by various names, including Ichiryusai Toyoshige, Fukudo Kunimatsu, and later Gansho.

The publisher was Tsunajima Kamekichi of Asakusa, Kawaramachi, 12-banchi (now part of Asakusabashi). Tsunajima published several of Yoshitoshi's better known series.

Print information

Title: Shinbun kyogen
Date: 1876-10-24 (otodoke)
Publisher: Tsunajima Kamekichi
Drawer: Utagawa Kunimatsu
Carver: Unsigned
Writer: Unsigned
Size: Oban
Image: Yosha Bunko

Provenance

I bought this print from Seikado, a shop in Kyoto that deals mostly in old ceramics in 2005. The propritor said he came by the print in an exchange with another dealer. He knew only that it was part of a lot of around 100 prints. He speculated it had probably come from a collector in the area via a local dealer or "nokkaa" (knocker).

The expression is used to describe a person who knocks on doors and asks if people have anything they want to get rid of, whether to dump, recycle, or sell. They accept some things for free, other things for a fee. Knockers with an eye for antiques will pay small amounts for items they know they can sell for a lot more.

This inspired an idea for a short story, which I promptly wrote, built around a "knocker" who found some very valuable prints while doing some cleaning for a widow who had allowed her home to fill with junk and garbage after her husband died.

Principal sources

This print was first introduced on this website.

Yosha Bunko