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Fujieda: Priest Renshô, Formerly Kumagai Naozane, from the series Fifty-three Pairings for the Tôkaidô Road (Tôkaidô gojûsan tsui)


「東海道五十三対 藤枝」 熊谷直実改蓮生法師
Utagawa Kuniyoshi (Japanese, 1797–1861)
Publisher: Ibaya Senzaburô (Dansendô) (Japanese)
Blockcutter: Matsushima Fusajirô (Horikô Fusajirô, Hori Fusa) (Japanese)
Japanese
Edo period
about 1845–46 (Kôka 2–3)

Medium/Technique Woodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper
Dimensions Vertical ôban; 35.5 x 24.8 cm (14 x 9 3/4 in.)
Credit Line William Sturgis Bigelow Collection
Accession Number11.25043
NOT ON VIEW
ClassificationsPrints

Catalogue Raisonné Marks, Kunisada's Tôkaidô (2013), #T78-23; Robinson, Kuniyoshi: The Warrior-Prints (1982), list #S44.23
DescriptionStation 23, from a series jointly designed by Hiroshige, Kunisada, and Kuniyoshi.

MFA impressions: 11.25042, 11.45385.23
Signed Chôôrô Kuniyoshi ga
朝櫻楼国芳画
Marks Censor's seal: Mura
Blockcutter's mark: Horikô Fusajirô
改印:村
彫師:彫工房次郎
Inscriptions熊谷次郎直実仏門に入て上洛し 黒谷の法然上人の弟子となり 蓮生法師と改め故郷へかへる道 藤枝の駅に宿せし家にて鳥目一貫文を上洛まで借用して その質物に十念を授け故郷へ帰り その後又上洛の砌(みぎり) 一貫文を返し預け置し十念を今又我に給はれ といふに いと安き事 と十念を返す 不思議なるは初め十念を受し時池に蓮華十茎咲出たるが 今返す時念仏一遍に一茎づつ消え失たり 此奇特を感じ 責て一へんは我に残し給われ と願へば 念仏一遍を与へ上洛しける それより此家を寺となし蓮生寺と号するなり
ProvenanceBy 1911, purchased by William Sturgis Bigelow (b. 1850 - d. 1926), Boston [see note 1]; 1911, gift of Bigelow to the MFA. (Accession Date: August 3, 1911)

NOTES:
[1] Much of Bigelow's collection of Asian art was formed during his residence in Japan between 1882 and 1889, although he also made acquisitions in Europe and the United States. Bigelow deposited many of these objects at the MFA in 1890 before donating them to the Museum's collection at later dates.