Background
The Rokkasen (Six Immortal Poets: 六歌仙) were ninth-century literary giants whose names were first linked together in the poetic anthology Kokin wakashû (Collection of ancient and modern poems: 古今集) in 905 AD. The term kasen (immortals of waka, 和歌, or Japanese poems) was derived from the Chinese term shixian (Immortals of poems: 詩仙) and may have been adopted for the Rokkasen by the mid-10th century. (The Edo play title is read Rokkasen sugata no irodori with the same characters.). A much earlier Osaka version called Yosooi rokkasen (Six poets in colorful attire) was staged in 1789 by Arashi Hinasuke I (1741-96). For a later version, Nakamura Shikan II retained Hinasuke's structure but had the play re-choreographed and set to new music. The dances were fanciful mixtures of modernized domestic tales (mostly involving unrequited love for Ono no Komachi) and historical legends. The dance roles were usually performed in the manner of hengemono (transformation pieces 変化物) employing hayagawari (quick-change techniques 早替り). The demands on a single actor performing the five separate male roles were daunting — only the most highly skilled performers could portray, in rapid succession, all the different personalities in convincing fashion.
Design
Unlike the standard dance version, this mitate-e (imagined performance) has a different actor perform each of the six roles.
On relatively rare occasions, actors are identified on ukiyo-e prints not by their art names (geimei), but their literary or poetry names (haimyô). So it is with the present design, as follows:
Arashi Rikaku (嵐璃珏) = Arashi Kitsusaburô II (嵐橘三郎); Shinsho (新升) =Ichikawa Ebijûrô (市川鰕十郎); Baigyoku (梅玉) = Nakamura Utaemon III; Sanko (三光) = Nakamura Matsue III (中村松江); Shikan (芝翫) = Nakamura Shikan II; and Ichibe (市紅) = Ichikawa Danzô V (市川團蔵).
Our print has well-preserved colors and a yellow background, and the sheet is large. Another impression is in the Ikeda Bunko Library (大Y125 ).
References: IKB-I, 397
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