Yamauba, Ashigarayama no shukaido (Yamauba, Begonia) / Tosei mitate sanju-rokkasen 當盛見立 三十六花撰 (Contemporary Kabuki Actors Likened to Thirty-Six Flowers (Immortals of Poetry))

Yamauba, Ashigarayama no shukaido (Yamauba, Begonia) belongs to Utagawa Kunisada's Tosei mitate sanju-rokkasen (Contemporary Kabuki Actors Likened to Thirty-Six Flowers / Immortals of Poetry), a mitate series pairing star Edo kabuki actors with classical poetic immortals and emblematic flowers. Yamauba is the mountain woman of legend and the doting mother of the boy Hercules Kintaro, set on the slopes of Ashigarayama (Mount Ashigara) in Sagami province; the begonia (shukaido), with its arching pink blooms, supplies a tender domestic emblem suited to her semi-wild maternal nature. Kunisada, who became the most influential designer of yakusha-e in nineteenth-century Edo through his deep knowledge of the kabuki stage, gives the figure a striking half-length portrait with patterned robe, flowing hair, and the alert expression of a powerful supernatural mother. The title cartouche and the cartouche carrying the begonia spray identify the series and the assigned flower; the publisher's seal and any actor name above the figure tie it to a specific contemporary production. The impression at the British Museum, indexed on ukiyo-e.org, preserves the design for study of Kunisada's classical-popular crossovers. Source: ukiyo-e.org / British Museum (https://ukiyo-e.org/image/bm/AN00431669_001_l).