A Man and a Woman in a Fight

Utagawa Kunisada (I) (mentioned on object), 1832

Een vrouw valt op de grond tijdens een gevecht met een man met een boog in zijn hand. De man is acteur Sawamura Gennosuke II (1802-53) en de vrouw acteur Segawa Kikunojô V (1802-32). Mogelijk gaat het hier om het kabuki toneelstuk Matsuochikara Tomoe no fujinami, opgevoerd in 1831 in het Kawarazaki theater in Edo. Linkerdeel van een diptiek, mogelijk middenblad van een triptiek. Met drie gedichten.

  • Artwork typeprint, surimono
  • Object numberRP-P-1991-663
  • Dimensionsheight 201 mm x width 180 mm
  • Physical characteristicsnishikie, with metallic pigments and blindprinting (on sword sheath)

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"actor (on the stage)" by Utagawa Kunisada (I)

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Sawamura Tanosuke

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Utagawa Kunisada (I) (mentioned on object), 1861

Pioenrozen van Shakkyo

Hodogaya

Utagawa Kunisada (I) (mentioned on object), 1852-03

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Utagawa Kunisada (I) (mentioned on object), c. 1827

Badhuis in Hakone

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Utagawa Kunisada (I) (mentioned on object), 1844

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Utagawa Kunisada (I) (mentioned on object), 1844

Stormachtige dag aan de Sumida rivier

Zonsopgang te Futamigaura

Utagawa Kunisada (I) (mentioned on object), c. 1828 - 1832

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De pleisterplaats Shimada

Utagawa Kunisada (I), 1835 - 1845

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Utagawa Kunisada (I)

A Man and a Woman in a Fight

Japan, Japan, Japan, Japan, 1832

Provenance

…; purchased from the dealer Kunsthandel Huys den Esch, Dodewaard, by J.H.W. Goslings (1943-2011), Epse, near Deventer, 1990;1Coll. cat. Goslings 1999, p. 31, cat. no. 53 by whom donated to the museum, 1991

Object number: RP-P-1991-663

Credit line: Gift of J.H.W. Goslings, Epse

Context

Sawamura Gennosuke II (1802-53) acted under this name from 1817-31, when he changed his name to Sawamura Tossho and again to Sawamura Sojuro V from 1844. Segawa Kikunojo V (1802-32) acted under this name from 1815 to until his death in I/1832.

The artist

Biography

Utagawa Kunisada (1786-1865) was a pupil of Utagawa Toyokuni, who dominated the field of kabuki prints until his death. Kunisada's prints of beautiful women, bijinga, were also very successful. Only well after he had established himself as a designer of actor prints did he enter the world of surimono design, becoming the most prolific designer of surimono in the Utagawa tradition. He also used the art-names Ichiyusai, Gototei and Kochoro.

Entry

A man holding a bow fighting with a woman who is falling to the ground. A dark night sky above.

This is the left sheet of a diptych (or possibly the centre sheet of a triptych) with the right sheet featuring the actor Ichikawa Danjuro VII holding onto a tree (MFA 11.19899).

The man is the kabuki actor Sawamura Gennosuke II, the woman Segawa Kikunojo V, possibly represented in a scene from the play Matsuochikara Tomoe no fujinami, performed at the Kawarazaki Theatre in Edo from XI/1831.2Kabuki nenpyo (Chronology of Kabuki), 8 vols. Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten, 1973 (1956), vol. 6, p. 247. Gennosuke announced his change of name to Tossho on this occasion and then performed the role of Sawanosuke, in reality Asahi Kitsune. Segawa Kikunojo performed the role of his daughter Otama, in reality the courtesan Kitsune.

Three poems by Bunso Takeo, Shokosha Chiyohiko and Eijudo.

Issued by the poets
Signature reading: Kochoro Kunisada ga

Literature

M. Forrer, Surimono in the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, Leiden 2013, no. 560

Citation

M. Forrer, 2013, 'Utagawa (I) Kunisada, A Man and a Woman in a Fight, Japan, 1832', in Surimono from the Goslings Collection in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: https://data.rijksmuseum.nl/200485462

(accessed 8 December 2025 08:32:52).

Footnotes

  • 1Coll. cat. Goslings 1999, p. 31, cat. no. 53
  • 2Kabuki nenpyo (Chronology of Kabuki), 8 vols. Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten, 1973 (1956), vol. 6, p. 247.