Japanese Print Kabuki Samurai

This print depicts a moment of penance of Mongaku who was a samurai and a Buddhist monk of the Shingon sect.
Mongaku (1139 - 5 September 1203) Originally a samurai belonging to the Watanabe party in Settsu province, which was under the aegis of Settsu-Genji (Minamoto clan), he served the imperial princess Muneko (Josaimonin), a daughter of Emperor Toba, as a Hokumen samurai (samurai guarding the palace of the former emperor). It is said that he loved Kesa Gozen, the wife of Wataru WATANABE, who was his male cousin and worked with him, that he killed her by mistake and thus became a monk. This scene of the print depicts Mongaku doing an ascetic meditation practice under the waterfalls where he was saved inextremely by fudo myoo and the other deities surrounding him in this scene.
He dedicated his life to the fight against corrupted temples, which earned him exile. He became the ally of the future shogun Minamoto no yoritomo which allowed him to return to Kyoto after the defeat of the Taira clan. He was promoted to take care of the jinjo temple and then had the to-ji restored. Unfortunately, he ended his life in exile after the death of the emperor as well as Yoritomo.
This print was made in 1899 and was lined with an old scroll to uniify and strengthen it.
Role played / name of the actor :
Seitaka (child of fudo myoo) / Ichikawa Sadanji (left)
Mongaku / Ichikawa Danjuro
Fudo Myoo / Ichikawa Sandanji
Kongara (child of fudo myoo)/ Onoe Kikugoro (far right) .




Toyohara Kunichika is the pupil of Toyohara chikanobu, he is a great artist of ukiyoe and he was very famous for his work for artist's prints. He was the man of two intertwined eras and died in Tokyo.
On his tombstone is inscribed the following epitaph:
"As I am tired of painting portraits of the people of this world, I will paint portraits of the king of hell and demons.