Kunichika | Taira no Masakado, One Hundred Roles of Baiko
豐原国周 Toyohara Kunichika (1835–1900)
梅幸百种之内 暂
Taira no Masakado, from the series of One Hundred Roles of Baiko
1893
木版画 | 纵绘大判｜36.5 x 25.4cm
Woodblock-print | Oban tate-e｜36.5 x 25.4cm
画面上方边缘有一处虫洞；几处轻微污渍
One wormhole on the top edge; few dirts
$1,100
五代尾上菊五郎（1844-1903），明治期最杰出的歌舞伎演员之一。本名寺岛清的他，出生于歌舞伎世家，庆应4年（1868）袭名尾上菊五郎与俳名“梅幸”。画题中的所谓“梅幸百种”，指的即是他所演绎的百个舞台角色。
本幅作品取材于梅幸出演的歌舞伎——《暂》。是著名的“歌舞伎十八番”之一。大致内容讲的是在平安时代后期，意图谋反的奥州豪族清原武衡，正下令将对立的忠臣加茂次郎义纲处死。在这危急关头，突然闪亮登场了一位超人般的少年英雄——镰仓权五郎景政。只见他在大喝一声“暫らく！”（且慢）后，又开始了一长串豪气的自我介绍，强调自己能力不小，装备不少；再其后便是他与武衡的一番斗智斗勇，最终救出了义纲一家，只留下了无可奈何的武衡和他家臣们的满地人头。简单的故事框架，炫酷的舞台效果，再加上经典的惩恶扬善主题，《暂》也就自然成为了人们喜闻乐见的一出剧目，经久不衰。
但由于梅幸饰演的是大反派，所以在此幅作品中，面目凶恶的武衡占据了大部分空间；而留给权五郎的，便只有小小的左上一隅了。不过这种巧妙的相对构图还颇有些对战游戏的风格，好似开战前的闪回画面，将双方定格在了剑拔弩张之时，动感十足。
画家为了提升画面的表现力，在武衡的白袍云纹上还施有大量的银粉，而在其后的紫色背景则是用紫色的云母粉摺出。在双重材质的映衬下，武衡须髯扬起的青白大脸愈发狰狞，反派人物的压迫感也更为强烈；左上角的权五郎虽只占一角，但他的标志性造型依然鲜明：脸上画着红色“筋隈”（脸谱），头发梳成夸张的“五本车鬓”，拥着团十郎茶色“大纹”方袖，腰上还佩着那把两米长的大太刀，尽显英雄豪迈。看来，就算是屈居一角，这自带主角光环之人，也还是难掩气场啊。
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Toyohara Kunichika (1835–1900)
Toyohara Kunichika’s father ran a bathhouse, and there’s a good deal of sly humor and energy in his son’s work, whether it be in his depictions of historical scenes, beautiful women — bijin — or a gaggle of naked beautiful women cavorting joyously in, yes, a bathhouse.
But without a doubt, Kunichika’s most important genre was yakusha-e, woodblock prints of kabuki actors and scenes from popular plays.
A student of Kunisada, Kunichika worked in both the Edo and Meiji periods and produced more than 120 series for more than 100 publishers. He was fascinated by examples of Western art then being seen for the first time in Japan. Andreas Marks, in his fine book, “Japanese Woodblock Prints,” notes that Kunichika often placed his scenes within frames as if they were oil paintings. And so it was a great honor when he was asked to contribute to the world exhibition in Paris in 1867, at the very dawn of Modern Japan.