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Gain access to this incredible resource through either a monthly or a yearly subscription and search the entire collection from your desktop, compare multiple images side by side and zoom into the minute details of the images. Visit www.davidrumsey.com/amica for more information on the collection, click on the link below the revolving thumbnail to the right, or email us at amica@luna-img.com . Creator Name: Katsukawa, Shunsho Creator Nationality: Asian; Far East Asian; Japanese Creator Role: Artist Creator Dates/Places: Japanese; 1726-1792 Asia,East Asia,Japan Creator Active Place: Asia,East Asia,Japan Creator Name-CRT: Katsukawa Shunsho Title: The actors Sawamura Sojuro II as the priest Shunkan and Azuma Tozo II as Oyasu in act three of the play Hime Komatsu Ne no Hi Asobi (Outing to Pick Pine Seedlings on the Rat-Day of the New Year) Title Type: preferred View: Full View Creation Start Date: 1768 Creation End Date: 1768 Creation Date: Performed at the Ichimura Theater from the ninth day of the ninth month, 1768 Creation Place: Asia,East Asia,Japan Object Type: Prints Classification Term: Woodblock Materials and Techniques: Woodblock print. Dimensions: Hosoban; 31.7 x 14.3 cm Inscriptions: SIGNATURE: Shunsho gaARTIST'S SEAL: Hayashi in jar-shaped outline AMICA Contributor: The Art Institute of Chicago Owner Location: Chicago, Illinois, USA ID Number: 1925.2410 Credit Line: The Art Institute of Chicago, The Clarence Buckingham Collection Rights: http://www.artic.edu/aic/rights/main.rights.html Context: Shunkan, head monk of the Kyoto temple Hosho-ji, was a historical figure who in 1177 was exiled to the remote island of Kikaigajima for his part in an unsuccessful plot against the Taira clan's domination of court and government. Though his co-conspirators were soon pardoned, Shunkan was left on the island to die. This tragic episode became the basis for a medieval No play which was later reworked into much more elaborate Bunraku and Kabuki versions.In the Kabuki play Shunkan manages to escape his islandexile on a secret mission to guard the emperor's concubine Kogo no Tsubone while she gives birth to a royal heir in a remote retreat at Horagadake. Since they will need a midwife, Shunkan enlists the services of a village girl called Oyasu, who fortunately is a secret supporter of the Genji cause. Oyasu wishes to learn the true identity of Shunkan and the noblewoman who is to give birth. In order to demonstrate her trustworthiness, she is about to swear an oath of secrecy on a pair of metal hand-mirrors,just as a warrior would swear on his sword. Fearful of revealing his secret, Shunkan stays her hand, but as he catches sight of his aged features in one of the mirrors the story of his lonely banishment inadvertently slips out (the scene shown here). With Oyasu's assistance the little prince is born safely into the world.Though both figures are drawn with the somewhat stiff and unyielding line common in his earliest prints, Shunsho makes much of the contrast between them. Sojuro II, his stern, almost fierce expression accentuated by dramatic makeup and his sword gripped resolutely in one outflung hand, looms hugely over the small, white-faced Tozo II, who looks open and vulnerable and whose mirror dangles weakly from her hand. Gookin observes that this is probably Shunsho's earliest print showing a female character. Certainly actors in male roles must have been far easier to portray as recognizable individuals than actors in female roles - who tended to look very much alike under the necessary white powder and wig. AMICA ID: AIC_.1925.2410 AMICA Library Year: 1998 Media Metadata Rights: Copyright The Art Institute of Chicago, 1998 AMICA PUBLIC RIGHTS: a) Access to the materials is granted for personal and non-commercial use. b) A full educational license for non-commercial use is available from Cartography Associates at www.davidrumsey.com/amica/institution_subscribe.html c) Licensed users may continue their examination of additional materials provided by Cartography Associates, and d) commercial rights are available from the rights holder. Home
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