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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, Shun'ei Creator Qualifier: Attributed to Creator Nationality: Asian; Far East Asian; Japanese Creator Role: Artist Creator Dates/Places: Japanese; 1762-1819 Asia,East Asia,Japan Creator Active Place: Asia,East Asia,Japan Creator Name-CRT: Katsukawa Shun'ei Title: 'Large head' portrait (okubi-e) of the actor Iwai Hanshiro IV as Akita Jonosuke Yoshikage in a 'Shibaraku' role, from the play Mieiko Nori no Hachi no Ki (Memorial Service for St. Nichiren: A Model of 'The Potted Trees') Title Type: preferred View: Full View Creation Start Date: 1791 Creation End Date: 1791 Creation Date: Performed at the Kawarazaki Theater in the eleventh month, 1791 Creation Place: Asia,East Asia,Japan Object Type: Prints Classification Term: Woodblock Materials and Techniques: Woodblock print. Dimensions: Aiban; 32.3 x 22.5 cm Inscriptions: UNSIGNED ["Shunko ga" added by hand]CENSOR'S SEAL: Kiwame AMICA Contributor: The Art Institute of Chicago Owner Location: Chicago, Illinois, USA ID Number: 1939.2206 Credit Line: The Art Institute of Chicago, The Clarence Buckingham Collection Rights: http://www.artic.edu/aic/rights/main.rights.html Context: Iwai Hanshiro IV shared honors with Segawa Kikunojo III as the leading female impersonator (onnagata) of the late eighteenth century, but here we see him in a rare venture into male 'rough stuff' (aragoto) acting - as a warrior in the famous 'Shibaraku' (Stop right there!) scene. His round, chubby face (which earned him the nickname Otafuku, after the legendary fat woman) is unexpectedly powerful in this most masculine of roles. He is wearing the characteristic 'Shibaraku' costume: red-streaked sujiguma makeup, radiating 'cartwheel' wig, black lacquer court headdress (eboshi), pleated white paper 'strength' hair ornaments, and a voluminous persimmon red ceremonial jacket (suo) over armor. Hanshiro IV's crest of three fans arranged inside a circle appearson the breastplate.Kabuki Nempyo records that Hanshiro IV made the normal entry down the walkway through the audience (hanamichi), wearing the 'Shibaraku' costume decorated with the large square crests of the Ichikawa family. Just as he was about to accost evil Prince Munetaka on the main stage, his fellow actor Osagawa Tsuneyo II climbed up from the front row of the audience and interrupted, calling out, 'Aren't you my younger sister Onaka?' Piece by piece the 'Shibaraku' costume was removed and the makeup was washed off, to reveal a precocious young girl wearing a long hanging-sleeved kimono (furisode) beneath! This unexpected development in the hackneyed 'Shibaraku' scene was well received, and is the subject of an illustration by Shuntei in Kabuki Nendaiki (see The Actor's Image' catalogue, fig. 128.1, p.342).The signature 'Shunko ga' has been added by hand to the top left-hand corner of the print, and in the past this attribution has been credited by Japanese authorities. Shunko did indeed produce aseries of revolutionary 'large head' portraits (okubi-e) of actors against blue backgrounds during the one-year period between the eleventh month of 1788 and the eleventh month of 1789. Seventeen such designs have been provisionally identified by Roger Keyes, all in the oban format and all of unprecedented power. Keyes also observes, however, that the last datable print designed by Shunko, before he fell victim to a paralysis that affected his right hand, was issued to mark a performance in the third month of 1790.The present print is superficially similar to these 'large head' portraits by Shunko, but it is in the smaller aiban format and dates almost a year and a half after Shunko is thought to have retired. The style is in fact closer to a hosoban print of Hanshiro IV in the same 'Shibaraku' role signed Shun'ei (see 'The Actor's Image' catalogue, fig. 128.2, p.343), and it is likely that Shun'ei was also the artist of the present, unsigned, print. The thick black drapery lines around Hanshiro IV's face have little of the taut, sweeping power seen in Shunko's best portraits. AMICA ID: AIC_.1939.2206 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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