Perpsective View (uki-e) of a Kabuki Theatre, with a Performance of The Crest Patterns of the Soga Brothers and Nagoya Sanza (Mon-zukushi Nagoya Soga)

While showing the print artist Masanobu’s novel experimentation with Western perspective to capture the expansive view of a crowded Kabuki theater, a scene from a vendetta play based on the legend of the Soga brothers is shown on stage. In the New Year’s season of 1748, the celebrated actor Sanogawa Ichimatsu I (1722–1762) played the starring role of Soga no Gorō, on the left, and his loyal retainer Asaina is played by Ōtani Oniji I (1717–1757).

“Mon-zukushi” (An array of family crests) in the title is a phrase related to the legend of the Soga Brothers,since there is a scene when the brothers stole into the tents at the Mount Fuji hunting ground they viewed and cheked the crests of the tents to look for their enemy Kudo. Crests and their family names are listed one by one. “Nagoya” in the title indicates that this performance incorporated the role of Nagoya Sanza (Sanzaburō) into this Soga play. The accounts of the rivalry between Nagoya Sanzaburō and Fuwa Banzaemon for the love of Katsuragi, a courtesan of the Shimabara quarter in Kyoto (Nagoya Sanzaburō monogatari), was an enduring theme in in popular theatre during the Edo period, and featured in puppet theatre as early as the Kanbun era.