IHL Cat. #147
One of 18 prints published from 1922 to 1923 as part of the celebration of the two-hundredth anniversary of the death of Chikamatsu Manzaemon (1623-1724), perhaps the greatest dramatist in the history of the Japanese theater. Each design illustrates a scene or character from one of Chikamatsu’s famous works. For more details on this series go to Woodblock Print Supplements to the Complete Works of Chikamatsu.
This print depicts princess Kinshōjo (錦祥女) from Chikamatsu's play The Battles of Coxinga (国性爺合戦 Kokusen'ya kassen). The play, a masterpiece of the puppet theater (ningyō jōruri 人形浄瑠璃), was first staged in November 1715 and it remains the most successful play in the history of jōruri.
Nishiyama portrays the most famous scene in the play "beni nagashi shishigajō" (the red signal inside the castle) in which Kinshōjo stabs herself, allowing her blood to flow into the Lion Castle moat as a signal that her husband, general Kanki, will join Watōnai (later known as Coxinga) to fight the Tartars. The two become allies and Watōnai is given the name Coxinga (Kokusen'ya in Japanese), Lord of Enpei.[1]
This print is from the supplement to Volume 3 of the "Complete Works of Chikamatsu." Metallic gold and silver inks enhance Kinshojo's robe and headpiece.
[1] For a translation of the pivotal Act 2 of the play see Donald Keene's translation in Traditional Japanese Theater: An Anthology of Plays, Karen Brazell, Columbia University Press, 1998, p. 314-332. For a translation of the entire play see The Major Plays of Chikamatsu, translated by Donald Keene, Columbia University Press, 1961, p. 195-269.
last revision:
3-17-2024
