In 1994,
Lawrence Bickford’s “Sumo and the Woodblock Print Masters” was
published. This book remains the most comprehensive history of the
representation of Sumō in Japanese woodblock prints.
For about 50 years, during the period circa 1775-1825, Sumō
prints were designed nearly exclusively by Katsukawa School graphic
artists. The dominance of their school in this genre ended in the second
half of the 1820’s. For the rest of the Edō era and during the Meiji
period, prints of this type were executed exclusively by artists of the
Utagawa school. During the last four decades of the Edō era, the most
productive of all was Utagawa Kunisada. Bickford states in his book that
around 300 Sumō prints by Kunisada are known. Meanwhile, the ‘Kunisada
Project’ lists
about
740
(March 2020). Furthermore, I believe that some hundreds of
his
Sumō
prints are still missing.
Bickford dates some prints depicting two wrestlers in a
bout, and signed ‘Kōchōrō Kunisada’, to the year 1828. He suggests that
these were Kunisada’s first true Sumō prints, and that the few examples of
earlier works were all designs of legendary Sumō bouts. Therefore those
precedents are in fact musha-e, and not true Sumō prints.
Apart from that, an exact dating of most of the Sumō prints
is difficult. There are actually 41 illustrations signed ‘Gototei
Kunisada’, whereas all other designs before 1844 are signed with the
go-name ‘Kōchōrō Kunisada’. The name ‘Gototei’ is the earlier of the two
signatures, and therefore I believe some of these 41 prints certainly were
produced prior to 1828.
The wrestlers (sumōtori) are represented as figure
portraits, most of them wearing wrestling belts (mawashi) in the Sumō
arena (dohyō). Only about 10 percent of the prints depict them in street
attire. By request of the publishers, Kunisada first depicted exclusively
wrestlers belonging to the makuuchi league (senior league). Then from
around 1840 on, probably in connection with the Tenpō reforms, he also
depicted wrestlers of the jūryō league (junior league). On triptychs not
depicting the dohyōiri (entering the ring ceremony), wrestlers from the
‘stables’ (heya) are also shown, whose rank was below the two highest
leagues of professional Sumō. In certain prints which depict yokozuna
during their individual dohyōiri, these low-ranked attendants, belonging
to the heya of the yokozuna, also appear.
Until the end of
the Edō era, two great Sumō tournaments were held each year in Edō. Those
tournaments, called ‘kanjin ōzumō’, had already been allowed by the
government, since the early 18th century, for the purpose of
raising funds for shrines and temples. By the beginning of the 19th
century, these tournaments had become a lucrative business, and the
receipts began to be taken by the promoters and by the sumōtori
themselves. The publishers of woodblock prints wanted to participate in the
great success of the Sumō tournaments and ordered the graphic designers to
sketch the heroes of the arena on paper with the intent of selling them
profitable to the audience.
In
these prints, the dohyōiri are separated into the East Division (higashi
no kata), and West Division (nishi no kata), in some cases both together
in one print composition. The wrestlers themselves are ordered by the rank
given in ranking lists (banzuke) which were updated after each tournament.
Other subjects include famous Sumō bouts, the referees (gyōji), the
coaches (toshiyori) and the sumōtori in leisure time strolling or relaxing.
From the mid-1820’s onwards it seems to have been normal
not only to depict the great stars, (yokozuna, ōseki, sekiwara and
komosubi) in single prints, but also the complete ensemble of a
tournament. One such example appears on 22 prints overall (11 wrestlers
for each division). At least this may be assumed by the representations of
wrestlers belonging to the lower maegashira ranks. However no one complete
series could be found until now. The most complete is an untitled set,
probably developed in 1830, designed by Kunisada for Yamaguchiya Tōbei,
showing the wrestlers of the makuuchi league. From this I succeeded in
finding 14 prints.
Other series exist printed by major publishers of the time:
Nishimuraya Yohachi (from
c.
1825),
Yamaguchiya Tobei (from c. 1825),
Jōshūya Kinzō (from
c.
1830), Yamamotoya
Heikichi (from
c.
1830), Moriya Jihei (from
c.
1830), Izumiya Ichibei
(from c. 1830),
Tsutaya Kichizō (a very few prints from c. 1835,
more from 1843 onwards), Kawaguchiya Uhei (a
very few prints
c. 1840) and
Daikokuya Heikichi (from
c.
1840). These prints designed by
Kunisada are more difficult to date, because most wrestlers stayed for
years in the makuuchi league, and so their names appear again and again in
the banzuke. From time to time, the sumōtori changed their fighting names
(shikona), in a manner similar to that in which kabuki actors changed
their stage names. In that case, a more exact dating is possible. Except
for the above-named publishers, I could not find any others who published
sumō prints before the Tenpō reforms. Probably, through contracts with the
promoters of the tournaments and owners of the heya, they succeeded in
excluding other publishing houses from participation in this lucrative
business.
Shortly after the Tenpō reforms in 1842, some smaller
publishing houses tried their luck with sumō prints, such as Fujiokaya
Hikotarō (in 1842/43), Kogaya Katsugorō (in 1844 only), and Kamaya Kihei,
as well as ‘Iwatoya’ and ‘Nunokichi’ (identification uncertain)
and a some others. However,
overall none of these lasted longer than a few years. The traditional
publishing house Tsutaya Jūzaburō likewise tried to publish sumō prints,
but vanished shortly thereafter and went completely out of business. Ibaya
Sensaburō and Sanoya Kihei, two elder publishing companies, also published
sumō-e for the first time. In the very last decades of the Edō era,
Fujiokaya Keijirō, Wakasaya Yoichi, Hayashiya Shōgorō, Kiya Sōjirō,
Ebisuya Shōshichi, Maruya Jinpachi and Iseya Kanekichi took over the
business of sumō prints, together with the traditional publishers
Yamamotoya Heikichi and Yamaguchi Tōbei. Although the publishers were
numerous, this fact is not surprising, given that Kunisada worked during
his career with at least 300 different publishing houses.
Nearly half of all Kunisada’s sumō prints are from the five years after
the Tenpō reforms, during which time the content of artworks was strictly
regulated by the governmental authorities.
The representation of kabuki actors was forbidden. In the
genre of bijin-ga (beautiful woman prints), the representation of
'courtesans' (actually often involuntary inhabitants of brothels) was also
banned. Regular portraits of women in more innocuous activities were still
permitted, as long as the women were not identifed by name. Violation of the regulations was severely
punished. Kabuki theatre audiences were accustomed to bringing home
portraits of their idols from the theatre, where the visit could be
afforded even by poorer people. Meanwhile the most glamorous women of the
brothels could only be dreamed about secretly by most people, and thus
their fantasy had been provided in another way in paper form. Publishers,
graphic designers, woodcutters, and other craftsmen (the paper, woodblock
and color producers) were confounded by the restriction of their two most
popular subjects, and needed sales volume.
The great sumō tournaments, and all business connected to
them, seem to have been the only areas of entertainment during those years
which did not suffer much under governmental restrictions. Therefore for
the confounded craftsmen, the most convenient solution was to turn to an
increased production of representations of the idols of the sumō arena.
After the hard years ended, kabuki, actor and courtesan
prints first were tolerated (1846-48), then from 1849-51 remained largely
unquestioned, and finally from 1852 onwards, could be published nearly
unrestricted. The production of sumō prints by Kunisada, and most probably
also by other artists, was reduced to the ‘normal’ range found before the
Tenpō reforms. Kunisada still designed them, because there was a certain
demand by the audience and the publishers, but otherwise he returned to
his most beloved themes such as kabuki-e and yakusha-e.
Printing blocks
were sometimes re-used by their publishers, especially for kabuki prints.
Similarly, some printing blocks for sumō-e were reused for portraits of
new wrestlers who had recently joined the leagues. In that case, the heads
of the wrestlers and the name cartouches were re-cut. Sometimes only the
names were changed. I found an example of a print which was used, with
only minor changes, for four different wrestlers. On prints showing the
dohyōiri, sometimes only the name cartouches were re-ordered according to
the new banzuke, while the main wrestlers depicted as the focus of the
print stayed the same. In one case, a composition of a ‘kanjin ōzumō’
bears the date seal of 2/1853, but in fact shows the names of the banzuke
from 1854. I have not yet found the actual print corresponding to the year
1853. The exact same print also exists in a version with the banzuke from
1865 (!) with a completion next to Kunisada’s signature added by his pupil
Kuniteru. The date seal of the print is still 2/1853. I find only
one
example in which one publisher sold the printing blocks to another. All
new editions of sumō-e bear except from this one the same publisher seal as the original print,
whereas reissuing often took place with a new publisher seal. The trade
of used wood blocks for these prints seems to have occurred more rarely
than in other genres of ukiyo-e.
Many thanks to those who maintain the great ‘Sumō Reference’ site. They
provide the banzuke of all tournaments ever held. Without the help of this
site it would have been impossible to me to find all the information.
Link:
http://sumodb.sumogames.de/
Statistics
(March 2020):
All sumō-e:
739 (including the ireki prints)
Kunisada
signed prints:
322, thereof around the half from 1840-1843, first print around 1825
Single sheets with one or more persons: 280
Diptychs and triptychs: 42
Toyokuni
signed prints:
417, thereof 248 from 1844-51, last print 1864
Single sheets with one or more persons: 331
Diptychs and triptychs: 86