Kobai, The Rose Plum

Catalog note / 解説

This print is from the series Ukiyo-e Comparisons to the chapters of Genji. This series pairs a poem from each chapter of the Tale of Genji, inscribed on a scroll at the top of the print, with a scene from the popular literature of the Edo period. Although explicit representations of actors on stage had been forbidden by the Tempo Reforms, many of the 'fictional' or 'historical' characters in this series have the facial features of popular actors.The character of Keyamura Rokusuke was a master fencer in a play that dramatised a revenge enacted in 1586. He lived in a village deep in the mountains of Kyushu. He is seeking revenge for the death of his old fencing master Ichimisai at the hands…