Jiraiya's Tsubo Sumire

A Ukiyo-e print rendered in marquetry. The background is cherry. Kimono is curly maple with walnu sleeves. Overall dimensions: 10-1/4" by 14" (not including frame)

Jiraiya was a role played successfully by Ichikawa Danjuro VIII, the most popular kabuki actor at the end of the Tokugawa regime. The Jiraiya Goketsu Monogatari(Story of a Hero, Jiraiya) is a long drama based on his brave actions, staging a full demonstration of his elusive movements. One of its highlight scenes takes place in Niigata where the hero punishes a wicked local governor, Yakama Shikaroku. Jiraiya, disguised as a beautiful shrine maiden, defrauds the greedy, lustful Shikaroku of the enormous sum of 2000 ryo (feudal-age currency) under the pretext that shewould multiply his property with a treasure jar (tsubo) with which sheperforms tricks of magic. The title of the picture, tsubo-sumire (viola verecunda), literally meaning a jar-shaped violet, has nothing to do with the violet (sumire). It's a play on words between the role and the flower, since Jiraiya wheedles people out of money by doing tricks with the jar.

Donated to the Mile High Church of Religious Science