The Fox Mother Kuzunoha | Same Design in the Tokyo...

歌川豊国 — UTAGAWA TOYOKUNI I (1769–1825) The Actor Segawa Rokō III as the Fox Woman Kuzunoha (三代目瀬川路考の葛の葉狐) Play: Shinodazuma Nagori no Kowakare (信田妻名残狐別), Ichimura-za, Edo Technique: Woodblock print (mokuhanga), polychrome (nishiki-e) on Japanese washi Date: 1802 (Kyōwa 2) Format: Ōban tate-e (approx. 39 × 26 cm / 15.4 × 10.2 in.) Signature: Toyokuni ga (豊国画) Inscriptions: Role cartouche 葛の葉狐 瀬川路考 (Kuzunoha the Fox — Segawa Rokō); text at upper left 名残狂言 古今大当り (nagori kyōgen, "farewell performance, the greatest success of all time") CONDITION The sheet is large and complete, around 39 × 26 cm. The colours are well preserved, but there is a noticeable repair in the upper left of the sheet with kozo fibres. There is also some scuffing, toning and soiling. The sheet still presents well overall! Please check the images carefully. The Occasion — A Farewell to Edo Segawa Kikunojō III (1751–1810) was born in Osaka. He came to Edo as a young actor, where he succeeded to the great Segawa name and became the leading onnagata (actor of female roles) of his generation. In the 8th month of 1801 he took the additional name Segawa Rokō III. In 1802 he left Edo to return to Osaka for the first time in 29 years. To mark his departure, the Ichimura-za in Edo staged a farewell performance (nagori kyōgen), Shinodazuma Nagori no Kowakare — "The Wife from Shinoda: A Farewell Parting from Her Child". In it Rokō played the white fox Kuzunoha, who leaves her son and returns to the forest of Shinoda. The play's title made the actor's own farewell part of the role. This print records that performance; the inscription on the sheet calls it a farewell play and the greatest success of all time. The Tokyo National Museum holds an impression of this design, catalogued as Sandaime Segawa Rokō no Kuzunoha-gitsune and dated 1802. Its recorded size (38.9 × 26.1 cm) matches this sheet. The Legend — Kuzunoha, the Fox of Shinoda Forest Kuzunoha is one of the best-known fox legends in Japan. In the story the nobleman Abe no Yasuna saves a white fox from hunters in the Shinoda Forest in Izumi Province. The fox later returns to him in the form of a beautiful woman named Kuzunoha. They marry and have a son. When her true nature is discovered, Kuzunoha has to leave her husband and child and return to the forest. Before she goes she writes a parting poem telling her husband to come and look for her in the forest of Shinoda if he misses her. Their son grew up to become Abe no Seimei, the most famous onmyōji (court diviner and master of the occult) in Japanese history; his supernatural powers were explained by his fox mother. The story reached the stage through the puppet play Ashiya Dōman Ōuchi Kagami (1734) and became a classic of the kabuki repertoire. The parting scene was a showpiece for the leading onnagata.

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