Onoe Matsusuke I as the Ghost of the Wet-Nurse Iohata and Matsumoto Kojiro as Mokuemon, in “Tokubei of India: Tales of Strange Lands” (Tenjiku Tokubei ikoku banashi)
- Date:
- c. 1804
- Medium:
- Color woodblock print; oban
- Source:
- Art Institute of Chicago
Utagawa Toyokuni I captures a charged supernatural moment from the kabuki play Tokubei of India: Tales of Strange Lands (Tenjiku Tokubei ikoku banashi). Onoe Matsusuke I appears as the ghost of the wet-nurse Iohata, while Matsumoto Kojiro performs the role of Mokuemon. As an Edo [ukiyo-e](/glossary/ukiyo-e) [yakusha-e](/glossary/yakusha-e) composition by Utagawa Toyokuni I, the print exemplifies the genre's ability to fix a fleeting stage encounter in durable woodblock form. The ghost of a wet-nurse is a classic Japanese theatrical figure, a protective female spirit who returns from death to influence the living, and Toyokuni emphasizes the eerie stillness of Onoe Matsusuke I's pose alongside the more grounded physicality of Matsumoto Kojiro's Mokuemon. The Tenjiku Tokubei narrative drew Edo audiences with its exotic geography and supernatural episodes, and Toyokuni's print extends that fascination into the visual sphere. The Art Institute of Chicago preserves the impression, whose disciplined keylines, individualized faces, and balanced color planes reflect the high production standards of Edo woodblock printing at the close of the eighteenth century. As founder of the dominant Utagawa school, Utagawa Toyokuni I uses this design to demonstrate how Edo yakusha-e could absorb supernatural and exotic motifs without losing its grounding in actor likeness. The sheet stands as both a refined work of Edo ukiyo-e art and an important reference for the visual history of kabuki ghost scenes.
early 1830s
Color woodblock print; shikishiban, surimono
1796
Woodblock print (nishiki-e), ink and color on paper
1769–1825
Woodblock print; ink and color on paper
Onoe Matsusuke I as the Ghost of the Wet-Nurse Iohata and Matsumoto Kojiro as Mokuemon, in “Tokubei of India: Tales of Strange Lands” (Tenjiku Tokubei ikoku banashi) was created by Utagawa Toyokuni I (歌川豊国) in c. 1804.
Onoe Matsusuke I as the Ghost of the Wet-Nurse Iohata and Matsumoto Kojiro as Mokuemon, in “Tokubei of India: Tales of Strange Lands” (Tenjiku Tokubei ikoku banashi) depicts sumo.
