Scene from Banchō Sarayashiki, Toyohara Kunichika

Exhibition Label: "Nature/Natural," Feb-2011, Kris Ercums Dish Mansion at Banshū is a Kabuki play about the maid Okiku, who was killed by her master Aoyama Tessan after refusing his sexual advances. This print tells her revenge story using a vertical format, depicting Okiku sweeping down from above as she launches an attack on her former master. Archive Label 2003: In this rare vertical triptych, Kunichika depicted Ichikawa Danjuro IX playing the role of the cruel samurai in the kabuki play, Sarashiki. The maidservant Okiku refused the advances of her samurai master. He eventually murdered her and threw her corpse into a well. Naturally, she turned into a ghost to haunt him. Here, her ghost sweeps down to pull her master’s umbrella inside out. The fire floating in the upper left corner of this print signifies the appearance of a ghost and is typical of representations of the supernatural. Although Kunichika belonged to the Utagawa school of print artists and is best known as a pupil of Kunisada, he kept the name of his first master, Toyohara Chikanobu. Exhibition Label: "The Art of Stories Told," Jun-2004, Veronica de Jong Triptychs provided print designers with a larger area to work and also increased the impact of their images. This unusual vertical triptych impressively illustrates the ghost tale Banchō Sarayashika that was performed on the kabuki stage. The story centers on a beautiful young maid Okiku who is shown here as a ghost soaring down to the defiant lord Aoyama Tessan shown holding an inverted umbrella. Okiku was responsible for her lord’s set of ten fine ceramic plates. She would count them regularly to ensure their safety but one day the lord hid one and accused her of not fulfilling her duties. When she was confronted by the lord and offered a deal that entailed her succumbing to his desires, she refused. The lord was enraged and murdered her by tossing her into a nearby well. The tormented ghost of Okiku was then heard each night counting the plates and screeching when she reached ten. Archive Label date unknown: For this image, Kunichika has used the unusual vertical triptych format to portray the actor Ichikawa Danjūrō IX (1839-1903) as the samurai lord Aoyama Tessan in the ghost tale of Sarayashika. The tale centers around a beautiful but wronged maidservant, Okiku. In the story, a frustrated Tessan hides a valuable plate from the virtous Okiku, who is responsible for the household dishes. Okiku frantically counts plates, horrified that one appears to be missing. Tessan offers a bargain, saying he will forgive the lost property only if Okiku will submit to him, but she refuses. Tessan, in a rage, kills her and tosses her body into a nearby well. Okuku's ghost is heard every night thereafter, counting plates and emitting bloodcurdling screeches at the last, insufficient number. Here, Onoe Kikugorō V (1844-1903) plays Okiku tormenting her murderer Tessan, shown pulling his umbrella inside out. Archive Label date unknown: Kunichika adopted a dramatic approach in illustrating the story of Okiku. In this rare vertical triptych, he depicted Ichikawa Danjuro IX playing the role of the cruel samurai in a kabuki theater production of Okiku's story. Okiku sweeps down to pull her master's umbrella inside out, a reference to a version of the story in which Okiku was hung upside down in a well by her angry master. The symbol of fire floating in the upper left is typcial of most depictions of ghosts.