This is yet another view of Onoe Kikugorō III (1784 - 1849), whom we saw earlier the show, portrayed in a magnificent standing profile by Toyokuni I. He was one of the first, and one of the most versatile and talented kaneru yakusha, actors who could perform any role, not just male (both heroes and villains), but also female roles as well.

In this print he is holding a yellow kimono box; kimono must be stored in a particular folded configuration to preserve their natural pleats, and for this special chests (tansu) and boxes were made. The boxes are often works of art in their own right, especially the ones finished in maki-e (literally, "sprinkled picture"), lacquer-ware decorated with gold.

Nakamura Karoku I (1779 - 1859) was an excellent onnagata (female impersonator), who excelled in roles as keisei (literally, "castle-destroyer" or "castle-toppler"; they were the highest-ranking courtesans). He had a large number of descendants who were also Kabuki actors, and some are still on the stage today.

Since the date of this print is not certain, it is not definite which Nakamura Shikan is portrayed here, but it is probably Nakamura Shikan II (1796 - 1852), later Nakamura Utaemon IV - which, if true, would serve to more closely date the print, as he assumed that name only in 1825. He too was a kaneru yakusha, able to perform a broad range of male and female roles; he was also an outstanding dancer.

Segawa Kikunojō V (1802 - 1832) was acknowledged to be the leading onnagata in Edo, endowed with both beauty and intelligence, but he sadly died very young, at the height of his career, after coming down sick while performing.

The distinctive mincing step of traditional Japanese women derived from the use of platform shoes. The skill took a bit of practice, and became even more important in snow and ice. The parasol, popular with beautiful women, also protected their complexions from rain, sun and snow. The paper umbrella became a pop-culture item in Japan through the 1920's, when 10 million were made annually. Now replaced by durable steel-framed Western style umbrellas, production of paper versions has declined to 100,000 a year.

The object held in the actor's right hand is a small drum.

The bijin's red kimono, with its beautiful bokashi (shading) is decorated with prunus (the group of trees and shrubs which includes plums and cherries). Note also the three kites in the sky, forming parallel triangles with the outline of Mt. Fuji, a masterful visual touch which is missing in Hiroshige's version, and which shows that Kunisada was a master of the landscape image in his own right.

Onoe Kikugoro III (1784 - 1849) used that name from 1815 to 1848. He was one of the first and most accomplished actors in Kabuki history to perform both male and female roles. Besides playing vengeful ghosts, his specialties included adolescent males and older wise men, but his range also extended to villains. He was acclaimed as an all-round actor, or 'man of a thousand faces', and his ability to do the miraculously quick changes so popular in his era allowed him to play seven to nine roles in one play.

In this one, we see the Lady Fuji no Tsubone appearing to her husband, Taira no Tsunemori, a minor member of the Taira (Heike) clan, and the nephew of the clan leader, Taira no Kiyomori.

She appears as a character in the famous five-act Kabuki play 'Ichi no Tani Futaba Gunki (The Chronicle of the Battle of Ichi no Tani)', in which the main character's real son is sacrificed to save the life of someone more important (someone who had, moreover, previously performed an important service for them), a common theme in Japanese legend and myth. Only the climactic act, entitled 'Kumagai Jin'ya (Kumagai's Camp)', is usually performed now.

Miya, which means "shrine", developed around the ancient Atsuta Shrine, one of the most important in Japan, as it holds the Sacred Sword, one of the three divine symbols of the Imperial throne. Situated at the junction of three roads, it was one of the busiest stations on the Tokaido, with around 250 inns to accommodate visitors to the shrine.

Poem:

My sleeves are like
the rock in the offing that
can't be seen even at low tide:
unknown to anyone,
there's not even a moment they are dry.

This image is from the bunraku (puppet theatre) play Taiheiki Chūushin Kōshaku, a variant of the Kanadehon Chūshingura (Treasury of the Loyal Retainers), the most common adaption of the story of the 47 Ronin.

In this scene we see a chance meeting in the street between one of the ronin (who is carrying swords for his comrades, concealed in a bundle of sticks), and his estranged wife, who has become a streetwalker to support her in-laws. She tries to persuade him to return home, but is unaware of the secret of his mission, and is greatly saddened when he refuses.

The hidden rock of the poem at one level refers to the secret plan of the ronin; but at another level, to the costs of duty: that of the wife, who has accepted the shame of prostitution to perform the duty of supporting her husband's parents, and of the husband, who will die as a result of revenging his master's death.

The particular game here appears to be one called iroha karuta, in which pairs of cards are assigned to one of the elements of the Japanese syllabary (Japanese is written in part using symbols, hira-gana, which represent all the possible noun-vowel pairs.).

The game was set up by laying out all the cards face up. To play, a card which was one half of a pair was selected, and the object of the game was to find and seize the matching card of the pair before the other contestants; the process would then be repeated.

The role was based on a real man, a fish-monger in the city of Sakai, who killed someone in the middle of winter in 1697. The dead body was hidden in the snow and discovered in Spring, after the melting of the snow. This event was dramatized for the first time in 1698; half a century later, Danshichi became the hero of the sewamono (dramas dealing with the lives of ordinary people) "Natsu Matsuri Naniwa Kagami" in 1745, which is still part of the current Kabuki repertoire, and one of the most popular plays. It contains the most famous murder scene in Kabuki, the murder of Mikawaya Giheiji by his son-in-law Danshichi.

This print also uses a number of the elaborate techniques which were introduced to ordinary woodblock prints after their development in surimono. Look for kirazuri (a glittering effect caused by the application of mica flecks) along the top of the print; karazuri, an embossed printing effect used in the white stripes of the kimono, and shomenzuri, a polishing technique, in the black cartouche around the bridge scene.

Note the prominent vertical lines of the wood-grain in the background; these indicates that this print is from very early in the production run, when the pores of the wood had not yet been filled with pigment.

He was particularly good as a nimaime, an actor who specialized in the roles of handsome and refined young lovers, often performed in the wagoto or "gentle" style of acting (as opposed to the more dramatic, forceful aragoto - literally, "rough stuff" - style).

Here he wears a striped kimono, with an under-kimono with a pine motif. The pine tree was a Japanese symbol of longevity and being virtuous; it came to symbolize longevity by being green throughout the year, as well as resistant to strong winds and heavy snows. Several samurai families adopted a variation on the pine motif for use in their family mon, circular symbols which are the Japanese equivalent (and from exactly the same military roots) as the Western crests.

His career demonstrates the way in which the Kabuki theatre had schools which took the form of families, and the way the families had hierarchies of stage-names within each family.

After a glittering early career, during which he successively took the names of Kawarazaki Chōjšrō III, Gonjūrō I, Gennosuke VII, and Sanshō I, in 1874 he was adopted into the leading Ichikawa actor family, and took the stage-name Ichikawa Danjūrō IX. That name, reserved for truly extra-ordinary actors, had not been held by anyone for around 20 years.

On the three great Kabuki stars of the second half of the nineteenth century, he was the standard-bearer for Kabuki during the long Meiji Era, and worked tirelessly to save this most Japanese of art forms, forming a human bridge between the feudal Japan of the past, and the modern Japan of the twentieth century. Many people feel that without him, kabuki might not have survived the transition.

This print is also an excellent example of the technical sophistication which the Japanese wood-block print reached at the end of its life.

The dark shading at the top of the print is bokashi; it was produced by a number of different techniques, such as:

• wiping the blocks after the application of the ink;
• using brushes with varying color and moisture levels;
• rubbing the block with a damp cloth before applying the ink.

The black areas of his robe contain an intricate geometric pattern produced with shomenzuri; literally, "front-printing", it is a polishing technique. A carved block was placed behind the print and the printed surface rubbed with a hard polisher (often a boar's tusk).

One of his particular professional interests was the creation of zangirimono (literally, "cropped hair plays") which dealt with contemporary characters: these were the second step in the development of a modern theatre in Japan, and the first time in centuries that Japan had had a contemporary theatre. The name "cropped hair" refers to the fact that as part of the reforms of Japan's feudal society in the Meiji Restoration, hair-styles also changed; previously, a man's station was indicated by the details of his hairdo, such as the length of the hair, and the method of tying it. After the reformations, ordinary close-cropped hair (zangiri) became the style for all classes; the characters in zangirimono appeared with short hair and modern dress, leading to the name.

Mitate (literally, "likened") are contemporary recreations of well-known scenes from history or myth, often with a parody in mind. It is not known what the subject of this parody is; woodblock prints are often obscure in meaning, in some cases to avoid the attention of the government censors.

The collar contains karazuri, literally, "empty printing"; this is an embossed un-inked printing effect, a technique called gauffrage in the West. It is produced by hard pressure on an un-inked block, with the print dampened, leaving whatever pattern is carved in the block embossed into the paper.

The wooden panel to the side makes use of mokumezuri, the use of a densely grained woodblock which has been soaked in water to emphasize the pattern of the grain, and is used to print areas of unfinished woodwork portrayed in the print. It is sometimes called itame mokuhan, literally "imitation woodgrain".

The wooden slab on which the poem is inscribed is the kind used in the Kabuki theatre to hang next to the stage, to carry the name of the play which is currently being performed.

Written Japanese uses a syllabary (consonant-vowel pairs) called hira-gana, and there are 47 signs in common use; this nice coincidence led to their use to enumerate the 47 Ronin.

Interestingly, although the use of real names for historical figures living after 1572 were forbidden when this print was produced, all the Ronin are shown with their original names, and not the aliases (derived from the popular 'Chushingura' Kabuki play based on the real events) which had been used for more than 150 years in prints and other popular literature.

Here we see one of the Ronin (portrayed by an actor) carrying over his shoulder the large wooden maul which he used to break down the gate to Kira's mansion.

This was the second time Horibei Yasubei Taketsune had been a ronin; as a young man, he had been a traveling warrior, moving through various provinces and perfecting his combat skills.

Onodera Hanemon Hidetomi did not keep his part in the plot secret from his wife; when she read his note explaining why he had left, she wrote him a poem:

When I read the words
your pen left upon the page
a shower of tears fell
And now all the leaves are gone
That I might use to answer

It shows a celebrated scene from the life of Minamoto no Tametomo (1139 - 1170), a legendary archer, and a favourite subject of Kuniyoshi's. Tametomo was one of a set of brothers who played large roles in the Hōgen civil war (1156-1159) between the leading Taira, Minamoto and Fujiwara clans. He was a giant in size and strength, and as his left arm was four inches longer than his right, he was able to draw a bow with great force.

After being on the losing side in the civil war, he was exiled to the island of Ōshima, just off the Izu peninsula, where he soon contrived to carve out a small domain among the surrounding islands. An expedition was sent to arrest him, and he reputedly sank the leading ship of the fleet with a single giant arrow, the scene shown here.

In this image, we see an illustration of a story this ronin told his comrades; while practicing with his sword, his swings often brought down a pine branches; a particularly large one knocked him down, amusing him.

Kuniyoshi, alone of the major figures of his generation of artists, had a major specialty in musha-e (images of historically significant warriors), and in this series of prints he whimsically adapts those same eight themes - autumn moon, lingering snow, evening glow, vesper bells, returning boats, clearing weather, night rain and homing geese - to portrayals of historical heroes.

This one shows Musashi Gorō Sadayo defending himself against a flight of arrows at the battle of Mt. Shimahiro, in which the rebel Taira no Masakado was defeated by the Imperial forces.

Musashi Sadayo was a squire of Masakado; he was only 15 at the time of his death in battle. Masakado was Tenth Century lord of the Kanto (the plains around Tokyo); the capital then was Kyoto, and the Kanto was a remote frontier. He was one of the leaders of the powerful Heike clan, and a descendant of an Emperor, and in 939, using the mystique of his Imperial blood, he revolted against the government, killing his uncle Kunika (who was part of the Taira clan) in the process, and set up a new kingdom in the Kanto, and proclaimed himself Shinno ("New Emperor").

His independent regime only lasted for several months. The Imperial government in Kyoto ordered another clan to send an army to subdue his kingdom, and Fujiwara no Hidesato, along with Masakado's cousin Sadamori (son of Kunika) attacked; although Masakado and his army fought bravely, he was slain, and the revolt was suppressed.

Historians now see the revolt as the symbol of the weakness of the Imperial government in Kyoto; the process was to continue, resulting in the establishment of the Kamakura Shogunate in 1192.

The lower panel shows Kii Province, and the actor Sawamura Chiyojūrō V in the role of the monk Karukaya, from the Kabuki play 'Zoho Tsukushi no Iezuto'.

Karukaya was originally Kato Sayemon Shigeuji, the daimyō of Chikuzen Province in northern Kyushu (the Southern main island of Japan). He became disillusioned with the everyday world, and sought spiritual refuge on Mt. Koya, in the large peninsula South of Osaka and Kyoto on Honshu (the main island of Japan). This holds a monastic center which is a nexus for Shingon Buddhism; this Buddhist sect was introduced to Japan in 805 by Kobo Daishi, one of the most important historical Japanese religious figures.

Although he had abandoned his family while his son was still a baby, the boy later went searching for his father, whom he recognized from a birthmark. The father, who wanted to remain true to his vows, denied it, and turned him away; the son agreed to go, and promised to keep the truth from his mother, so that his father could remain in peace.

Monks of many of the schools of China, Korea and Japan generally wear austere robes, with a simple cloth collar draped around their necks. Japanese monks wear black or gray robes, and a prayer robe is worn over the regular robes.

The plot of this play concerns a priest, Narukami Shōnin (literally, "superior man", a title reserved for Buddhist monks known for virtuous behaviour). Angered that his petition to the emperor was refused, locks the rain dragon up in a cave, and causes a drought. The court responds by sending the beautiful princess Kumo no Taema, who seduces Narukami, and then releases the rain dragon. When it starts to rain, Narukumi realizes he has been duped, and becomes enraged. It is this moment that we see captured in this print.

This print illustrates a famous moment from the tenth century epic, Ise Monogatari (Tales of Ise). It is commonly held that the hero of this novel is the poet Ariwara Narihira Ason (828 - 880), an Emperor's grandson, and one of the "Six Great Poets". Legend states that he was exiled as the result of an affair with the empress. This scene shows him carrying his lover Nijō-no-tsubone across a grassy moor at night, pursued by a party of men with torches.

In this image, the rival wrestlers Hanarigoma Chōkichi and Nuregami Chōgorō are in combat, using a ladder they are throwing back and forth; the ground is covered with debris from their struggle. Chōgorō is the favorite and certain winner, and Chōkichi is the young upstart.

The two are the protagonists in several Kabuki scenes, the Sumōba and the Komeya. Although often performed independently, they are actually from the same long original play, as is common now in the Kabuki theatre, where a performance often consists of favourite scenes from a number of different plays.

Yoshitsuya was an early student of Kuniyoshi, and began producing his own prints around 1845. Almost all of his prints were images of warriors. During his short working life he produced many memorable designs of samurai, the 47 Ronin, and the heroes of the 'Taiheiki (History of the Great Peace)', a fictionalized historical chronicle that describes the events of the 1300s, when the Kamakura Shogunate fell, and civil war enveloped the country.

In this print we see the full autumn moon over the cliffs at Mt. Ishiyama; the plumes of the procession seen on a moonlit hillside. In the distance a sea bridge and two mountain tops in a mist.

Ishiyama holds a large Buddhist temple, the Ishiyama-dera, founded in 749. A pagoda added by Minamoto no Yoritomo (1147? - 1199), the first Ashikaga Shogun, is now the oldest standing structure of its type in Japan. The Ishiyama-dera is also the place where Lady Murasaki Shikibu is said to have written then 'Genji Monotagari (The Tale of Genjii)', the world's first novel, and one of Japan's great literary classics.

It was founded around 1804 by an antiques dealer name Sahara Kikuu, who was part of the chōnin intelligensia of his period; the garden still contains many stone monuments engraved with their words. It began as a plum grove amidst the farmlands, for at that time the east bank of the Sumida River was still Edo's vegetable garden. He also planted many flowers, selected from the flowers which had been themes of classical poems in China and Japan.

After the founder's death, and throughout the Nineteenth Century, it remained a playground for ordinary people; in 1939, a subsequent owner bequeathed it to the city of Tokyo.

The garden has twice been completely destroyed. In the 1920s, a typhoon flooded the area for a month, and the long immersion in brackish water killed everything in the garden. During World War II, it was completely devastated during the firestorm of the Great Tokyo Air Raid in March, 1945. After the war, the city wanted to use the barren space for an athletic practice field, but local residents mounted a campaign to reestablish it as a garden. The city relented, and with the help of local residents, it was replanted in the style of a country garden.

Traditional Chinese beliefs hold that the peony represents spring and female beauty; in Japan they also represent good fortune and nobility of spirit.