COLLECTION NAME:
The AMICA Library
mediaCollectionId
AMICO~1~1
The AMICA Library
Collection
true
AMICA ID:
AIC_.1932.1012
amicoid
AIC_.1932.1012
AMICA ID
false
AMICA Library Year:
1998
aly
1998
AMICA Library Year
false
Object Type:
Prints
oty
Prints
Object Type
false
Creator Name:
Katsukawa, Shunsho
crn
Katsukawa, Shunsho
Creator Name
false
Creator Nationality:
Asian; Far East Asian; Japanese
crc
Asian; Far East Asian; Japanese
Creator Nationality
false
Creator Dates/Places:
Japanese; 1726-1792 Asia,East Asia,Japan
cdt
Japanese; 1726-1792 Asia,East Asia,Japan
Creator Dates/Places
false
Creator Name-CRT:
Katsukawa Shunsho
crt
Katsukawa Shunsho
Creator Name-CRT
false
Title:
The actor Nakamura Nakazo I as a monk, Raigo Ajari, in the play Nue no Mori Ichiyo no Mato (Forest of the Nue Monster: Target of the Eleventh Month)
otn
The actor Nakamura Nakazo I as a monk, Raigo Ajari, in the play Nue no Mori Ichiyo no Mato (Forest of the Nue Monster: Target of the Eleventh Month)
Title
false
Title Type:
preferred
ott
preferred
Title Type
false
View:
full view
rid
full view
View
false
Creation Date:
Performed at the Nakamura Theater from the first day of the eleventh month, 1770
oct
Performed at the Nakamura Theater from the first day of the eleventh month, 1770
Creation Date
false
Creation Start Date:
1770
ocs
1770
Creation Start Date
false
Creation End Date:
1770
oce
1770
Creation End Date
false
Materials and Techniques:
Woodblock print.
omd
Woodblock print.
Materials and Techniques
false
Classification Term:
Woodblock
clt
Woodblock
Classification Term
false
Creation Place:
Asia,East Asia,Japan
ocp
Asia,East Asia,Japan
Creation Place
false
Dimensions:
Hosoban; 31.0 x 14.6 cm
met
Hosoban; 31.0 x 14.6 cm
Dimensions
false
AMICA Contributor:
The Art Institute of Chicago
oon
The Art Institute of Chicago
AMICA Contributor
false
Owner Location:
Chicago, Illinois, USA
oop
Chicago, Illinois, USA
Owner Location
false
ID Number:
1932.1012
ooa
1932.1012
ID Number
false
Credit Line:
The Art Institute of Chicago, The Clarence Buckingham Collection
ooc
The Art Institute of Chicago, The Clarence Buckingham Collection
Credit Line
false
Inscriptions:
SIGNATURE: Shunsho gaARTIST'S SEAL: Hayashi in jar-shaped outline
oin
SIGNATURE: Shunsho gaARTIST'S SEAL: Hayashi in jar-shaped outline
Inscriptions
false
Rights:
orl
<a href="http://www.artic.edu/aic/rights/main.rights.html"target="_new">http://www.artic.edu/aic/rights/main.rights.html</a>
Rights
false
Context:
Nakazo I is shown in the role of Raigo (1004-1084), a Buddhist monk of the Tendai temple Onjo-ji (also known as Mii-dera) near Lake Biwa. Raigo is sometimes called simply by his ecclesiastical title, Ajari (S: acarya, monk, especially of one of the Esoteric schools such as Tendai). Various chronicles relate that by virtue of Raigo's prayers a son was born to the retired emperor Shirakawa (1053-1129), in return for which Shirakawa offered to grant the priest any wish. When Raigo requested the establishment of an ordination platform at Onjo-ji, however, the retired emperor reneged on his promise, for fear of the armed monks of the rival Tendai temple Enryaku-ji on Mt. Hiei, who enjoyed a monopoly on ordination. Casting a curse on Shirakawa, Raigo shut himself in the Buddha Hall of the temple and began a fast in protest.It is at this point that the Kabuki playwrights began to elaborate on the historical accounts. In the play of 1770, according to Kabuki Nempyo, Raigo fasted for one hundred days. He then trampled a serving table underfoot, and when it burst into flames took this as an omen that his prayers had been answered. This is the scene depicted in Shunsho's print: Raigo is shown with his tonsure grown out into an unkempt mop of hair, wearing tatteredpriest's robes and with a rope wrapped around his waist - perhaps to ease the pangs of hunger in his belly. In one hand he holds a rosary and in the other a ritual bell (kongo rei). At his feet flames engulf the smashed table.Raigo lived a century beforeMinamoto no Yorimasa (1104-1180), the central character in Nue no Mori. Kabuki playwrights, however, characteristically and enthusiastically conflated the most disparate events and stories, in order to thicken their plots or perhaps to provide a showcaserole for a particular actor's talents. Shunsho has responded to a powerful actor in an impassioned role with a gripping design in an austere color scheme: the skin of the emaciated monk is rendered in pale gray, with darker gray tracing the protruding rib cage. Raigo's body leans in the direction of his distant gaze, and his grim, set expression creates a sense of foreboding.An illustration in the program (ehon banzuke) for the production shows Nakazo I in identical costume standing under the same ivy-covered pine tree (see 'The Actor's Image' catalogue, fig. 47.1, p.144). In the color print Shunsho has wisely eliminated the two subsidiary characters shown in the program - Raigo's follower Kamada Gon-no-kami Masayori and a child actor in an unidentified role - so as to concentrate on the dramatic figure of Nakazo I alone.
cxd
Nakazo I is shown in the role of Raigo (1004-1084), a Buddhist monk of the Tendai temple Onjo-ji (also known as Mii-dera) near Lake Biwa. Raigo is sometimes called simply by his ecclesiastical title, Ajari (S: acarya, monk, especially of one of the Esoteric schools such as Tendai). Various chronicles relate that by virtue of Raigo's prayers a son was born to the retired emperor Shirakawa (1053-1129), in return for which Shirakawa offered to grant the priest any wish. When Raigo requested the establishment of an ordination platform at Onjo-ji, however, the retired emperor reneged on his promise, for fear of the armed monks of the rival Tendai temple Enryaku-ji on Mt. Hiei, who enjoyed a monopoly on ordination. Casting a curse on Shirakawa, Raigo shut himself in the Buddha Hall of the temple and began a fast in protest.It is at this point that the Kabuki playwrights began to elaborate on the historical accounts. In the play of 1770, according to Kabuki Nempyo, Raigo fasted for one hundred days. He then trampled a serving table underfoot, and when it burst into flames took this as an omen that his prayers had been answered. This is the scene depicted in Shunsho's print: Raigo is shown with his tonsure grown out into an unkempt mop of hair, wearing tatteredpriest's robes and with a rope wrapped around his waist - perhaps to ease the pangs of hunger in his belly. In one hand he holds a rosary and in the other a ritual bell (kongo rei). At his feet flames engulf the smashed table.Raigo lived a century beforeMinamoto no Yorimasa (1104-1180), the central character in Nue no Mori. Kabuki playwrights, however, characteristically and enthusiastically conflated the most disparate events and stories, in order to thicken their plots or perhaps to provide a showcaserole for a particular actor's talents. Shunsho has responded to a powerful actor in an impassioned role with a gripping design in an austere color scheme: the skin of the emaciated monk is rendered in pale gray, with darker gray tracing the protruding rib cage. Raigo's body leans in the direction of his distant gaze, and his grim, set expression creates a sense of foreboding.An illustration in the program (ehon banzuke) for the production shows Nakazo I in identical costume standing under the same ivy-covered pine tree (see 'The Actor's Image' catalogue, fig. 47.1, p.144). In the color print Shunsho has wisely eliminated the two subsidiary characters shown in the program - Raigo's follower Kamada Gon-no-kami Masayori and a child actor in an unidentified role - so as to concentrate on the dramatic figure of Nakazo I alone.
Context
false
Related Image Identifier Link:
AIC_.E19670.TIF
ril
AIC_.E19670.TIF
Related Image Identifier Link
false