Utagawa Yoshitaki

1841-1899

Genji in the Countryside in Fifty-Four Chapters: Chapter 51, Ukifune
(Inaka Genji, Gojuyon jo no uchi: Gojuichi, Ukifune)

keyblock proof; signed at lower left corner within the composition Yoshitaki ga, titled in the cartouche at the upper right, Inaka Genji, Gojuyon jo no uchi: Gojuichi, in the upper left corner Ukifune (in kanji), the role and the actor on the right identified, Ukifune (in hiragana), Jitsukawa Enzaburo, and on the left, Niou no jo, Arashi Rikan, publisher Yaoya Zensuke's name along the left margin Yaozen shi, ca. 1868-69

chuban tate-e 10 1/8 by 7 1/8 in., 25.7 by 18.2 cm

Utagawa Yoshitaki (also known as Ichiyosai Yoshitaki) was a student of Utagawa Yoshiume (1819-1879). Yoshitaki was the most prolific designer of kabuki prints based in Osaka from the 1860s-1880s. The Osaka actor Jitsukawa Enzaburo lI (1848-1872) is in the role of Ukifune in a boat with the actor Arashi Rikan IV (1837-1894), in the role of Niou holding an umbrella.

References:
Andreas Marks, Publishers of Japanese Woodblock Prints: A Compendium, 2011, p. 363, no.617 (series and publisher)
Andreas Marks, Genji's World in Japanese Woodblock Prints, 2012, Appendix I, p. 275, G484
Ritsumeikan University Art Research Center, accession no. arcBK02-0072_48
(inv. no. 10-2287)

price: $150