A surimono designed as three horizontal bands, each consisting of a portrait and a poem. At top right a woman in a black kimono, a towel over her shoulder; in the centre a boy holding a tree branch over his shoulder; at the bottom a bearded man wearing a cap, his arms crossed over his chest.
The woman is the kabuki actor Iwai Hanshiro VI, the boy the actor Ichikawa Danjuro VIII in the role of Kidomaru, or the infant Kintoki, and the man is Ichikawa Ebizo V (formerly Ichikawa Danjuro VII) in the role of the woodcutter Nekko no Yorizo. The performance with a cast that comes closest to this was the play Yoriari gohiiki Tsuna, staged at the Kawarazaki Theatre in Edo in XI/1832. Hanshiro performed the role of the geisha Koito of the Nakaneya, the young Danjuro played the role of Nosetaro, and Ebizo portrayed various roles, including those of Ebisakonoju, in reality Watanabe no Tsuna, and Ashikagayama Yamauba.
Three poems by Yagairo Takara no Nakasumi, Jingairo Kiyosumi [1786-1834, the son of Rokujuen Yadoya no Meshimori and a judge of the Gogawa], and shichidaime Sansho [Ichikawa Danjuro VII, 1791-1859].
Danjuro’s poem is preceded by the statement that he contributed it ‘at the request of Master Kiyozumi’, Kiyozumi nushi no motome ni, the second poet on this print.
His poem reads:
My white hair - taking the road to Mukojima and crossing Sumida River, today I am home again in Kiba.
Issued by admirers of the actors
Signature reading: Kunisada ga
