Explore the Play about the Image of this artwork.
The scene in this diptych is taken from the play Go Taiheiki Shiroishi Banashi (碁太平記白石噺). Originally written in 1780 for the ningyō jōruri puppet theatre by Kijō Tarō (紀上太郎),Utei Enba (烏亭焉馬) and Yō Yōtai (容楊黛), the play was soon adapted for the kabuki stage. The seventh act, commonly referred to as "Ageya", is still performed on a regular basis.Made up of eleven acts, the play is part jidaimono historical drama and part sewamono contemporary drama. It recounts the story of the Keian Uprising of 1651 led by Yui Shōsetsu (由井正雪) (d. 1651), a commoner who rose to prominence as an expert swordsman and martial artist. Frustrated by the increasingly strict regulations placed on the samurai, Yui and a small band of rōnin attempted to stage a coup against the ruling Tokugawa shogunate. The plot was discovered, Yui arrested and ultimately allowed to commit seppuku ritual suicide. The other section of the play tells the story of a revenge plot hatched by two long-lost sisters. Reunited in an Edo brothel, the two women plan to exact vengeance on the evil samurai who killed their farmer father.The diptych is taken from a performance of the play which was staged in the eighth month of 1848 at Osaka's Kado Theatre.
 The print on the right is of the actor Ichikawa Ebizō as Uji Hyōbu-no-suke (宇治兵部助)(also Uji Jōetsu (宇治常悦)), a fictionalized version of rebel leader Yui Shōsetsu. The left print shows Arashi Rikan as Kanae Tanigorō (金井たに五郎) (also 金江谷五郎 (Kanai Yagorō)).
rōnin Edo samurai ningyō jōruri kabuki seppuku sewamono Keian Uprising Yui Shōsetsu jidaimono Tokugawa shogunate