The actor Matsumoto Kinsho I as Igami no Gonta at Gontazaka, between Hodogaya and Totsuka, from the series "Tokaido"
- Date:
- 1852
- Medium:
- Color woodblock print; oban
- Source:
- Art Institute of Chicago
The actor Matsumoto Kinsho I as Igami no Gonta at Gontazaka, between Hodogaya and Totsuka, from the series Tokaido, dated 1852, is a hybrid [yakusha-e](/glossary/yakusha-e) and [meisho-e](/glossary/meisho-e) woodblock print by Utagawa Toyokuni in the Art Institute of Chicago. The design combines a portrait of the actor Matsumoto Kinsho I in the role of Igami no Gonta, the scoundrel-turned-tragic figure from Yoshitsune Senbon Zakura, with a landscape reference to Gontazaka, the hillside between the Tokaido post stations of Hodogaya and Totsuka. This compositional pairing of an actor in costume with a location whose name punned on or echoed the character's name was a hallmark of mid-nineteenth-century Edo [ukiyo-e](/glossary/ukiyo-e), particularly in series that overlaid the Tokaido road format on the kabuki repertoire. Toyokuni's studio specialized in this kind of overlap, mining the popularity of Hiroshige's Tokaido prints while remaining anchored in the yakusha-e tradition that defined the Utagawa school's commercial dominance. By 1852 the Tempo-era restrictions on lavish actor identification had largely lapsed, and full theatrical attribution returned to the cartouche, as preserved here in the Art Institute of Chicago catalogue. The print stands as a sophisticated late example of how the Utagawa workshop fused landscape and theater into a single Edo ukiyo-e idiom that suited both kabuki enthusiasts and travel-print collectors.
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
The actor Matsumoto Kinsho I as Igami no Gonta at Gontazaka, between Hodogaya and Totsuka, from the series "Tokaido" was created by Utagawa Toyokuni I (歌川豊国) in 1852.
The actor Matsumoto Kinsho I as Igami no Gonta at Gontazaka, between Hodogaya and Totsuka, from the series "Tokaido" depicts sumo.
