JAPANESE ART > UKIYO-E WOODBLOCK PRINTS > AT THE EDGE OF THE HIDAKA RIVER

Lot 00577
N.1 triptych of ukiyo-e woodblock prints

Toyohara Kunichika

AT THE EDGE OF THE HIDAKA RIVER

Year: 1887
Condition: very good
Size: 70 x 34,5 cm

SOLD

One day, a priest named Anchin (安珍) fell in love with the beautiful Kiyohime (清姫). But after a time he overcame his passions and refrained from further meetings. Kiyohime became furious at the sudden change of heart and pursued him in rage. Anchin and Kiyohime met at the edge of the Hidaka river (日高川) where the priest asked the boatman Namiroku (浪六) to help him to cross the river, but told him not to let her cross with his boat. When Kiyohime saw that Anchin was escaping her, she jumped into the river and started to swim after him. While swimming, she transformed into a large serpent because of her rage.

When Anchin saw her coming after him, he ran into the temple called Dojoji (道成寺). He asked the priests for help and they hid him under the bell of the temple. However, the serpent smelled him hiding inside the bell and started to coil around it. She banged the bell loudly several times with her tail, then gave a great belch of fire so powerful that it melted the bell and killed Anchin.

In the precious triptych presented here, made by the artist Toyohara Kunichika (豊原国周), we see the woman played by the actor Nakamura Fukusuke (中村福助) and the boatman by the actor Nakamura Shikan (中村芝翫). The work, printed in October 1887 by the publisher Sasaki Toyokichi (佐々木豊吉), is in very good condition, thanks also to an effective relining on the back.

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