Tatebanko 1882

[Thomas Meek]

I found the same images Tapcho posted, but from a different source. I especially like the first one shown, with the dour-looking god floating on smoke while some guy struggles with a giant rat or mouse and everybody else is brandishing knives. I think the title indicates that it is a scene from a kabuki farce, so I am not surprised. The other two are wonderful also.

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This gives ordering information, but I have not yet been able to figure out how to do it. I did send an email inquiry along with a machine translation but have not heard back as yet.
B-manic; Have you tried ordering from that outfit? It looks promising.

If we all send emails to them, perhaps they will get the idea that there is some interest over here and think about selling to us.

[B-Manic]

Originally Posted by Thomas Meek

I found the same images Tapcho posted, but from a different source. I especially like the first one shown, with the dour-looking god floating on smoke while some guy struggles with a giant rat or mouse and everybody else is brandishing knives. I think the title indicates that it is a scene from a kabuki farce, so I am not surprised. The other two are wonderful also.

??????????????????? - ?????????Web??

This gives ordering information, but I have not yet been able to figure out how to do it. I did send an email inquiry along with a machine translation but have not heard back as yet.
B-manic; Have you tried ordering from that outfit? It looks promising.

If we all send emails to them, perhaps they will get the idea that there is some interest over here and think about selling to us.

I'll try to contact them and see what happens. it would appear there is still some interest in selling them which is encouraging.

[papermodelfan]

RE the print of the pensive actor. Tony Cole of Tokyo sends along the following observations, after discussing with Ann Herring, a real connoisseur of tatebanko in Japan.

Quote: "I spoke to Ann Herring and another friend about the print showing the actor admiring the tatebanko and they both identified the image as depiciting the Japanese summer festival called Tanabata, the only time of the year when two lovers are able to meet. Ann also said the print belonged to a set depicting festival seasons of the year and that the actor in the print was known but that she could not remember his name. She also said she did not know if the tatebanko model the actor was admiring had anything to do with Tanabata and it was best for me to go to the Salt and Tobacco museum as they had a full description of the print. This I will do when I have time and then report back (...). Ann did have the print on display during her tatebanko exhibition at the Salt and Tobacco museum twenty years ago."

[Don Boose]

Excellent additional information, Rob. There is always a lot of nuance and cultural reference in these works. It takes a while to tease out the layers of meaning. I appreciate your continuing to dig into this while Pat works on construction of a model representing the print.

Don

[Yu Gyokubun]

Rob, I’m impressed with your pursuit on the picture. Leaving the pursuit to you, I would like to report what I found which you may find useful. I found there are two names written above the actor’s left shoulder. One is Sawamura Totsushi and the other is Gennosuke. After I had checked their name on the web, I found “Sawamura Gennosuke” is a kabuki actor in Edo era and also I found a picture shown here http://www.enpaku.waseda.ac.jp/db/enpakunishik/results-big.php
Don’t you think the face of the actor in this picture closely resembles that of the actor admiring tatebanko? This picture is drawn by Toyokuni and the name written on the right is “Sawamura Gennosuke”