A man, portrayed half-length, shouldering a red travelling overcoat, dochu kappa, decorated with a silver chequered pattern.
The man is the kabuki actor Matsumoto Koshiro V in the role of Banzui Chobei. Koshiro played this role in the performance of Midori no hana harutsuge Soga in II/1822 at the Kawarazaki Theatre in Edo, and again in the play Korajima staged at the Nakamuraza from IX/1823. The latter performance, however, would hardly have been a reason for this surimono. In view of the small number of surimono portraying Matsumoto Koshiro V, it seems more likely that this print was commissioned by his fans after his successful tour of the Kansai region the whole of the previous year, during which he also performed this role at the Minamigawa Theatre in Kyoto (III/1821) and at the Naka Theatre in Osaka (IX/1821). Moreover, his interpretation of this role in I/1822 was his first performance in Edo after his return. Matsumoto Koshiro V (1764-1838) acted under this name from 1801 to his death in V/1838.
Four poems by Kinoshita Hanahiko, Oe no Kitayori, Kariba Hayafusa [possibly identical to the Nosue, also Kankando Hayafusa, a retainer living at Edo in the Shitaya District], and Horikawa Utanari [also Kyokanari Sharakusai, another retainer who, like Hayafusa, lived in the Shitaya District in Edo]. The first three poems are conventional New Year poems, the last seems to be more specific, starting with the ‘The song of the warbler in Spring surveys the moon and the sun…’, but the rest is too cryptic to translate.
Issued by the poets
Signature reading: Toyokuni ga
