Kumanaki kage くまなき影

FSC-GR-780.890

Commentary by Kurahashi Masae　

Posted December 7, 2017

Original unedited text in Japanese follows

This collection of haiku was produced to commemorate Hagetsutei Kasetsu (波月亭花雪), who passed away at a young age in the sixth month of 1865 (see also Hana fubuki FSC-GR-780.749.1-2). Kasetsuhad been an influential figure in organizing kyōga awase (興画合), and for that reason a kyōga awase gathering was held on the third anniversary of his death. [1] This book brings together memorial haiku poetry, kyōga drawings executed in response to pre-determined themes based on the characters in Hagetsutei Kasetsu’s name (i.e., wave 波, moon 月, flower 花, and snow 雪). This was combined with the five elements of wood (木), fire (火), earth (土), metal (金), and water (水), together with silhouette portraits, or “shadow pictures” (kage-e 影絵),of the participants at the gathering and short biographies. The organizer of this memorial gathering and the editor of this volume was Kasetsu’s younger brother, Kōkōsha Baigai (皎々舎梅崖), who seems to have taken over the running of kyōga awase following his brother’s death.

There are two printings with the title Kumanaki kage: one is a privately distributed printing with sixty-eight contributors, and the other is a commercial printing published and sold by Hirookaya (広岡屋) with eighty-two contributors. Judging from the number of participants the Pulverer copy is most likely the privately distributed version. Quite a number of the individuals included in this volume are figures whose names, appearances, and biographies cannot be verified through other sources. This text thus constitutes an especially valuable resource in our understanding of the cultural circles of the late Edo (bakumatsu) and early Meiji periods.

The silhouetted images of the participants designed by Utagawa Yoshiiku belong to a type of parlor game or entertainment popular in the late Edo period that involved the making of “shadow pictures” of party attendees. A person’s silhouette would be cast against a sliding paper door (shoji), and it would then be traced onto a separate piece of paper. At the beginning of the book Shibata Zeshin (vol. 1, pp. 8–9 on the website) provides the reader with a view of the setting of the memorial service in whichKasetsu’s silhouette adorns the alcove. Perhaps this “shadow picture” was created at one such gathering during Kasetsu’s lifetime. Zeshin’s illustration in this book uses Kasetsu’s kage-e as a subject for the memorial service and commemoration. [2] Moreover, Yoshiiku, whose “shadow pictures” in this work identify dozens of the participants, designed a series of kabuki actor “shadow pictures” entitled Makoto no tsuki hana no sugata-e 真写月花乃姿絵 (Pictures of true forms of “moon” and “flowers”) in the same year as this book (1867). The success of both works subsequently initiated a boom in “shadow pictures.”

書名くまなき影

執筆者倉橋正恵

慶応元年（1865）六月に早世した、波月亭花雪の追善句集。興画合の主催者であった花雪を偲び、その三回忌に際して興画合が催された。[1] 本書はその会に集った連衆の肖像影絵と略伝、花雪の名に因んだ波・月・花・雪と木火土金水の五行を組み合わせた兼題に対する答えの興画、そして花雪追悼の句を収録する。追善の会を主催し、さらに本書を編んだ皎々舎梅崖は花雪の弟であり、兄の亡き後は興画合の会を引き継いだようである。

『くまなき影』には、六十八人の連衆を収める私的に配られた配布本と、八十二人を収める板元広岡屋が売り出した市販本の二種類があり、本コレクション本は収録人数から判断して配り本に該当する。本書に収録された者の中には、名前や姿、来歴が他の資料では確認できない人物も少なくなく、幕末から明治初期の文化サークルの実態を知る上で大変貴重な資料といえる。

また、歌川芳幾の手によって描かれた連衆の影絵は、もとは幕末期に流行した座敷での遊興の一つで、人物のシルエットを障子に映し、それを肖像として紙に写し取って遊ぶというものであった。本書冒頭に柴田是真が描く法要の座敷の床に飾られている花雪の影絵は、こうした座興の一環として彼の生前に作成されたものであろう。しかし本書で見る限り、花雪の影法師がその肖像として追善供養及び追慕の対象として転用されていたことがうかがえる。[2] なお、数十人の連衆の影絵を描き分けた芳幾は、本書と同年に役者の肖像に影絵を用いた役者絵「真写月花乃姿絵」シリーズでも好評をとり、以降の世に影絵ブームを起こした。

Selected readings:

Hashimoto Kenichi 橋本謙一, “Eleven: Inoue Washi ‘Murasaki no’ no kuhi: Murasaki no yukari ya sumire edo umare” 「十一、井上和紫『紫の』の句碑　紫のゆかりやすみれ江戸生れ」, in Hashimoto Kenichi, Mukōjima hyakkaen kuhi meguri hito meguri『向島百花園句碑めぐり人めぐり』(Tokyo: Kanaya Chikusen, 2009), 136–52.

Imayoshi Kenichirō 今吉賢一郎, “Mainichi shinbun no genryū” 『毎日新聞の源流』, Mainichi shinbun (1988), 136–42.

Okado Toshiyuki 岡戸敏幸,“‘Kage’ to ‘shōzō’ no bunkashi 3 ‘kagebōshi’ to ‘tsuizen’: ‘Kumanakikage’ o megutte”「『影』と『肖像』の文化史三　『影法師』と『追善』『久万那幾影をめぐって』, Gekkan hyakka 395 『月刊百科 395』(September 1995), 9–16.

Satō Satoru 佐藤悟, “‘Kakuyaikani no ki’ shūhen” 「『かくやいかにの記』周辺」, Kokugo to kokubungaku725 『国語と国文学 725』(June 1984.6), 41–54.

Satō Satoru 佐藤悟, “Kinsei bungaku to kage-e” 「近世文学と影絵」, in Kage-e no jūkyūseiki『影絵の十九世紀』(Tokyo: Suntory Museum, 1995), 64–69.

Suntory Museum of Art サントリー美術館, Kage-e no jūkyūseiki 『影絵の十九世紀』(Tokyo: Suntory Museum, 1995).

Yamamoto Keiichi 山本慶一, Edo no kage-e asobi『江戸の影絵遊』(Tokyo: Sōshisha,1988).

Copies in other collections:

Privately distributed edition:

Edoardo Chiossone Museum of Oriental Art, Genoa　

Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Rietberg Museum, Zurich

Waseda University Theater Museum, Tokyo

Commercial edition:

National Diet Library, Tokyo

National Institute for Japanese Literature, Tokyo

Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Edition type unknown:

Nishio City Iwase Bunko, Aichi Prefecture

Sankō Cultural Research Institute, Tokyo

Tenri University, Tenri Central Library, Nara Prefecture
Tōyō Bunko, Tokyo

Tokyo Metropolitan Central Library

Tokyo University of the Arts Library

University of Tokyo Library

[1] Kyōga awase wasa competitive pastime in which topics are distributed ahead of time. The participants then create seemingly unrelated images using pictorial allusions, associations, or wordplays based on the subject; the submissions are then scored and rated.
[2] Okado 1995, 13–15.