HASHI BENKEI
(橋辨慶)

                 
 
Plays: Goban Tadanobu Genji Ishizue (碁盤忠信源氏礎); Dondoro (どんどろ); Ôshû Adachi-ga-Hara
(奥州安達原); Ittô Ryû Narita no Kakegaku (一刀流成田掛額); Hashi Benkei  (橋弁慶)
Performance Place: Kiraku-za, Yokohama
Performance Date: 07/15/13
Print Date: 07/15/13
Artist: Utagawa Kunisada III (歌川国貞) 
Medium: Woodblock printed sujigaki cover
Image courtesy of the Tsubouchi Memorial Theatre Museum
 
Note: The cover depicts Ichikawa Sashô II (市川左升; 市川左舛) as ?, Ichikawa Sadanji II
(市川左団次; 市川左團次) as Abe no Sadatô (安倍貞任), Ichikawa Sumizô VI (市川寿美蔵;
市川壽美蔵) as Hachiman Tarô Yoshiie (八幡太郎義家), Ichikawa Enjo I (市川莚女) as ?,
Ichikawa Shôchô II (市川松蔦) as Sodehagi (袖萩), and  Ichikawa Ichijûrô  IV (市川市十郎)
as Abe no Munetô (安倍宗任) in Ôshû Adachi-ga-Hara (奥州安達原).
 
 

               
Benkei - Face Making Up (辨慶の隈取)

Role: Benkei (辨慶, 弁慶)
Play: Gosho Zakura Horikawa no Youchi
(御所櫻堀川夜討); Hashi Benkei (橋辨慶)
Print Date: 01/25/29
Artist: Ota Gatô (太田雅光)
Series: Kabuki Kumadori (歌舞伎隈取), Vol. 2, No. 20
Personal Collection
 
 
 

                   
Onoe Shôroku II (尾上松緑) as
Musashibô Benkei (武藏坊辨慶; 武蔵坊弁慶)

Play:  Hashi Benkei (橋辨橋; 橋弁慶)
Performance Place: ?
Performance Date: ?
Print Date: 04/1954
Artist: Natori Shunsen (名取春仙)
Medium: Hand-colored keyblock print (版画源画)

Note: The first record I could find of Shôroku II
performing this role was at the Kabuki-za in May
1956.  Either the print reflects a performance outside
of Tokyo or it depicts Benkei in a different play.
 
 
 

               
Musashibo Benkei (武蔵坊弁慶)

Play: Hashi Benkei (橋辨慶)
Print Date: ?
Artist: Hasegawa Sadanobu III (長谷川貞信)
Series:  Kabuki Kumadori Shû (歌舞伎隈取集)
Courtesy of Artelino.com

                   
[Benkei Right on a Bridge] Hashi Benki (橋弁慶) 
Musashibô Benkei (武蔵坊弁慶) and Ushiwakamaru (牛若丸)

Play: Hashi Benkei 橋弁慶)
Print Date: 1973
Artist: Mori Yoshitoshi (森義利)
Medium: Stencil print (ed. 50)
 
 

                   
[Benkei Right on a Bridge] Hashi Benki (橋弁慶)
Musashibô Benkei (武蔵坊弁慶) and Ushiwakamaru (牛若丸)

Play: Hashi Benkei 橋弁慶)
Print Date: 1973
Artist: Mori Yoshitoshi (森義利)
Medium: Stencil print (ed. 50)

                   
[Benkei Right on a Bridge] Hashi Benki (橋弁慶)
Musashibô Benkei (武蔵坊弁慶) and Ushiwakamaru (牛若丸)

Play: Hashi Benkei 橋弁慶)
Print Date: 1973
Artist: Mori Yoshitoshi (森義利)
Medium: Stencil print (ed. 50)
 
 
 

Ichikawa Sumizô VI
(市川寿美蔵; 市川壽美蔵) as
Ushiwaka (牛若)

Play: Hashi Benki (橋弁慶)
Artist: ?
Medium: Woodblock printed
matchbook cover
 
Note: Sumizô VI performed
this role in Tokyo at the Meiji-
za in May 1921 and in March
1928, and at the Tokyo Gekijô
in June 1935 and May 1940.
                      

                
                  Ichikawa Ennosuke II
                  (市川猿之助) as Benkei (弁慶)

                   Play: Hashi Benkei
                   (橋辨慶; 橋弁慶)
                   Artist: ?
                   Medium: Woodblock printed
                   matchbook cover
 
                   Note: Ennosuke II first per-
                   formed this role in Tokyo at
                   the Meiji-za in May 1921. 
                   His last Tokyo appearance in
                   this role was at the Shinbashi
                   Enbujô in March 1952.
                      

                                 
                Benkei (弁慶)

                Play: Hashi Benkei (橋辨慶; 橋弁慶)
                Print Date: ?
                Artist: Yamamoto Shoun (山本昇雲)
                *Image courtesy of the National Museum of Asian Art

 
 
 

 
Musashibô Benkei (武藏坊辨慶; 武蔵坊弁慶)                                                Ushiwakamaru (牛若丸)
           
Play: Hashi Benkei (橋辨橋; 橋弁慶)
Print Date: ?
Artist: Natori Shunsen (名取春仙)
Personal Collection

Note: These prints were sold as a diptych design.  I am starting to think that these may actually be the left and center panels of an
unrecorded triptych design, which would explain the strange margins and lack of any publisher information.  If anyone has an image
of the hypothesized third panel, please get in touch with me.  The paper is of relatively poor quality, suggesting that it might have been
printed during WWII or during the late 1940s. 
 
 
 
 

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