Hanashidori はなしとり
FSC-GR-780.715.1-2
Commentary by Iwakiri Yuriko
Posted April 19, 2017

Original unedited text in Japanese follows

Hanashidori was compiled in commemoration of the kabuki actor Nakamura Utaemon IV 中村歌右衛門 (1798–1852), who died in Osaka in the second month of 1852 (Ka’ei 5). (Utaemon’s haimyō 俳名, or “poetry name,” was Kanjaku 翫雀; this appears in the book’s variant title Kanjaku tsuizen hanashidori.) Thetitle Hanashidori 放し鳥 (Freed bird) refers to a memorial ceremony when birds are released. The inside cover shows the following Utaemon crests: Ibishi イ菱 (stylized forms of the character イin a diamond shape); Gion-mamori 祇園守 (amulets of the Gion Shrine); and Suzume ni gan 雀に翫 (the character 翫 on a sparrow). Utagawa Toyokuni III (Kunisada), Torii Kiyomitsu II, Utagawa Kuniyoshi, and others designed the illustrations.

An advertisement in the collection of the Chiba City Museum of Art invites the contribution of kyōka and haiku poems to accompany the images in this work. It also includes the publication (contribution) fee, which was 4 monme for a kyōka and 3 monme for a haiku. The flyer states that the kyōka poet Kintsūsha Gakai 琴通舎雅海 (1823–1906) spearheaded this publication venture with the support and participation of Saiki Kōi 細木香以 (1822–1870), Umenoya Kakushi 梅屋鶴子 (dates unknown), and other kyōka poets. It is also evident that regional kyōka and haiku poets were also recruited. This book had numerous contributors; it not only demonstrates the popularity of Nakamura Utaemon IV but also the depth of enthusiasm towards kyōka and haiku at this time.

Hanashidori contains many images relating to Utaemon’s various celebrated roles. For example, the eighth opening (pp. 14–15 on the website) in the second volume has a tribute by the writer Shikitei Kosanba 式亭小三馬 (1812–1853). This accompanies Kuniyoshi’s portrayal in the upper right of Utaemon as a shirabyōshi dancer from the play Kyōga no ko musume dōjōji 京鹿子娘道成寺 and in the lower left as the boatman Matsuemon (Higuchi no Jirō Kanemitsu) in the sakaro scene from the play Hiragana seisuiki ひらかな盛衰記. [1] Kuniyoshi’s sketch for the latter composition is housed the Nationaal Museum van Wereldculturen (Museum Volkenkunde) in Leiden, the Netherlands. The Pulverer copy is in a good state of preservation.

書名はなしとり

執筆者岩切友里子

嘉永5年（1852）2月、大坂で没した四代目中村歌右衛門（1798–1852）の追善のために編まれた書。「翫雀」は、歌右衛門の俳名、「放し鳥」とは、死者の追善のため鳥を放す儀式である。扉の見返しにあるのは、歌右衛門の用いた「イ菱」「祇園守」「雀に翫」の紋。画には、三代歌川豊国（国貞）、二代鳥居清満、歌川国芳らが筆を執っている。

本書の出版にあたって、掲載料（入花料）を定めて、狂歌や発句、画を公募した報條が残されており（千葉市美術館蔵）、それによると、狂歌師の琴通舎雅海が会主となり、細木香以、梅屋鶴子などの狂歌師がこれを補助し、地方の狂歌、俳諧の連にも呼びかけていることがわかる。多くの投稿者を集めた本書は中村歌右衛門の人気の大きさを示すと共に、当時の狂歌、俳諧の活動への人々の熱心な関わり方も窺える。

歌右衛門が演じて好評を得た諸役に関連する画も多い。下巻の７図目には、式

亭小三馬による追悼文と、「京鹿子娘道成寺」の白拍子と「ひらかな盛衰記」の「逆櫓」の場、[1] 船頭松右衛門実は樋口次郎兼光を演じる歌右衛門を国芳が描いている。この図の国芳の草稿がオランダ国立ライデン民族博物館に残されている。

Copies in other collections:

Chiba City Art Museum
National Diet Library, Tokyo
Tokyo Metropolitan Central Library
Waseda University Tsubouchi Memorial Theatre Museum

[1] Sakaro 逆櫓, or “backwards rowing,” was a secret technique of rowing against the tide and the wind.