Minneapolis Institute of Art

Danshichi Kurobei

Tsukioka Yoshitoshi; Publisher: Sanoya Tomigorō; Author: Takabatake Ransen

Date

1866, 12th lunar month

Medium

Woodblock print (nishiki-e), ink and color on paper

Department

Asian Art

Institution

Minneapolis Institute of Art

Danshichi Kurobei had been imprisoned for injuring a man who then died, although from a different cause. He was released with the help of Lord Tamashima but exiled from his hometown. Later, Kurobei’s cruel and greedy father-in-law, Mikawaya Giheiji, kidnapped the mistress of Lord Tamashima’s son and demanded a ransom for her release, but Kurobei managed to intervene and free her. Giheiji was outraged since he had supported Kurobei’s wife and child while the younger man was in prison and now demanded payment. When Kurobei was unable to make good on his debt, Giheiji began beating him with his sandal. A fight broke out, and eventually Kurobei lost his temper. He stripped off his clothes down to his red loincloth and killed Giheiji, in the mud, while begging for forgiveness for what he was doing. The struggle between the two men became perhaps the most dramatic murder scene in Kabuki theater and a popular motif in prints. Yoshitoshi captured it in its full cruelty, with Kurobei’s arms and sword drenched in blood while the dying Giheiji is barely visible in the mud. Japan, Asia

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