YOMONO NISHIKI KOKYONO TABIJI
(四方錦故郷旅路)

                   
[Play on Sharaku: Traveling] 
Gisaku Sharaku Michiyuki  (戯似 Sharaku 道行)

Play: Tsuki no Mayu Koi no Saichu (月眉恋最中) scene of
Yomono Nishiki Kokyono Tabiji (四方錦故郷旅路)
Print Date: 1963
Artist: Hatsuyama Shigeru (初山滋)
Image courtesy of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
 
Note: This appears to depict the famous Ninokuchi Mura traveling scene
with Chûbei and Umegawa.  The play Sharaku based his print on is all
but forgotten today, but the scene remains a staple of kabuki plays such
as Koi Bikyaku Yamato Ôrai (恋飛脚大和往来).  Although the print is usually
referred to as Sharaku: Elopement, "elopement" would appear to be an
improper reading of "michiyuki" in the context of this play.
 
 

                 
Nakayama Tomisaburo I (中山富三郎) as Umegawa (梅川) and
Matsumoto Kôshirô IV (松本幸四郎) as Magoemon ( 孫右衛門)

Play: Yomono Nishiki Kokyono Tabiji (四方錦故郷旅路)
Performance Place: Kiri-za, Tokyo
Performance Date: 08/1794
Print Date: 05/2020
Artist: Paul Binnie
Print Title: Kabukichô (歌舞伎町)
Image courtesy of Binniecatalogue.com

Note: This print incorporates figures from recarved Tôshûsai Sharaku (東洲斎 写楽) blocks.

                 
Nakayama Tomisaburo I (中山富三郎) as Umegawa (梅川) and
Matsumoto Kôshirô IV (松本幸四郎) as Magoemon ( 孫右衛門)

Play: Yomono Nishiki Kokyono Tabiji (四方錦故郷旅路)
Performance Place: Kiri-za, Tokyo
Performance Date: 08/1794
Print Date: 2020
Artist: Paul Binnie
Personal Collection

Note: This print was printed by Binnie from recarved Tôshûsai Sharaku
(東洲斎 写楽) blocks that the artist had acquired .  The design was
incorporated into the artist's print Kabukichô (歌舞伎町).  This print was
printed as close as possible in what is believed to have been the original
unfaded color scheme of the Sharaku print.  That color scheme was
intentionally altered for theKabukichô print to give the figures a more
ghostly pallor.