A lady wearing a dragon crown and holding a fan stands behind a seated man.
Print from A Series of Three Prints on the Dragon’s Capital, Tatsu no miyako sanbantsuzuki.
The seated man is the kabuki actor Bando Mitsugoro III in the role of Urashimataro, the young fisherman who one day found a turtle in his nets, which he released back in the water. The turtle was the daughter of the Dragon King, hence the dragon crown worn by the lady - portrayed here Segawa Kikunojo V - who invited the fisherman to visit her father’s palace on the bottom of the sea. On returning to the surface after a while, he discovered that centuries had passed in the human world.
It is difficult to ascertain the performance after which this design was made. In view of the reference to the ‘Dragon’ in the print-title, a dating to the Dragon Year would be most likely. The two actors did, indeed, start the 1819 season together - beginning from the Eleventh Month - but this was for one season only; moreover, the role of Urashimataro appears not to be listed in the reference works. It may therefore be an imaginary representation of the two actors, considered the stars of male and female roles at the time.
Bando Mitsugoro III (1775-1832) acted under this name from 1799 until his death in the Twelfth Month of Tenpo 2, actually 1832. Segawa Kikunojo V (1802-32) acted under this name from 1815 until his death in I/1832.
This is probably a somewhat later issue of the print, lacking the seal of the block-cutter Egawa Tomekichi, which is on the copy illustrated in Keyes.
Two poems by Yanagi no Joen [or Ryujoen?], and Shakuyakutei [Nagane, 1767-1845, earlier Asagi no Uranari. As Sugawara no Nagane, he established his own poetry club, the Sugawararen, publishing from 1826].
The poem by Yanagi no Joen reads:
When the young actor opens the treasure box on the calm misty coast, the Spring of Urashima appears.
Issued by an unidentified poetry club
Signature reading: Gototei Kunisada ga, with seal: Sada
