Fukisaburo, Shakkyo no botan (Fukisaburo, Peony) / Tosei mitate sanju-rokkasen 當盛見立 三十六花撰 (Contemporary Kabuki Actors Likened to Thirty-Six Flowers (Immortals of Poetry))

Fukisaburo, Shakkyo no botan (Fukisaburo, Peony) is a sheet from Utagawa Kunisada's Tosei mitate sanju-rokkasen (Contemporary Kabuki Actors Likened to Thirty-Six Flowers / Immortals of Poetry), the elegant mitate series in which leading Edo kabuki actors are paired with one of the classical thirty-six poetic immortals and with a flower that condenses the role's character. Fukisaburo here is associated with Shakkyo (Stone Bridge), the celebrated lion dance derived from Noh and absorbed into the kabuki repertoire as one of its most spectacular shosagoto pieces; the peony (botan), traditionally paired with the lion in East Asian iconography, is the only fitting flower. Kunisada gives the actor the heightened expression and patterned costume associated with the lion dance's mythic court of immortals, while the flower cartouche bearing the peony and the title cartouche at top integrate the design into the broader series. As the dominant designer of Edo ukiyo-e yakusha-e in his generation, Kunisada used the mitate framework to flatter literate viewers while sustaining the celebrity culture of the Edo theatres. The British Museum impression made available through ukiyo-e.org is a reliable record of the design. Source: ukiyo-e.org / British Museum (https://ukiyo-e.org/image/bm/AN00431652_001_l).