COLLECTION NAME:
The AMICA Library
Record
AMICA ID:
AIC_.1949.38
AMICA Library Year:
1998
Object Type:
Prints
Creator Name:
Katsukawa, Shunsho
Creator Nationality:
Asian; Far East Asian; Japanese
Creator Dates/Places:
Japanese; 1726-1792 Asia,East Asia,Japan
Creator Name-CRT:
Katsukawa Shunsho
Title:
The actor Ichikawa Danjuro V as Sakata Hyogonosuke Kintoki in the play Shitenno Tonoi no Kisewata (Raiko's Four Intrepid Retainers in the Costume of the Night Watch)
Title Type:
preferred
View:
full view
Creation Date:
Performed at the Nakamura Theater from the first day of the eleventh month, 1781
Creation Start Date:
1781
Creation End Date:
1781
Materials and Techniques:
Woodblock print.
Classification Term:
Woodblock
Creation Place:
Asia,East Asia,Japan
Dimensions:
Hosoban; 32.0 x 14.8 cm
AMICA Contributor:
The Art Institute of Chicago
Owner Location:
Chicago, Illinois, USA
ID Number:
1949.38
Credit Line:
The Art Institute of Chicago, The Clarence Buckingham Collection
Inscriptions:
SIGNATURE: Shansho ga
Context:
The opening-of-the-season (kaomise) play at the Nakamura Theater in the eleventh month of 1781 was set in the tenth-century 'world' (sekai) of the warrior Minamoto no Yorimitsu (better known as Raiko, d. 1021) and his four dauntless retainers, whose intrepidity earned them the collective sobriquet 'Four Heavenly Kings' (Shitenno): Watanabe no Tsuna, Sakata no Kintoki, Usui no Sadamitsu, and Urabe no Suetake. Ichikawa Danjuro V appears here as Kintoki, a massive, lowering presence in voluminous black robes with sleeves like great kites, on which the character kin is writ large in white.Raiko and his retainers were common characters in opening-of-the season productions, which also traditionally offered a 'Shibaraku' (Stop right there!) interlude in part one, act three. The novelty of this production was to play the 'Shibaraku' role not as a male hero but as an evil woman (acted by Segawa Kikunojo III).The drama presented a version of the legend in which Raiko and his followers subdue the monster Earth Spider (Tsuchi-gumo). The spirit of this monster spider of Mt. Katsuragi appears here in the form of a beautiful woman, Joro-gumo (Harlot Spider), first wearing the large robes and court hat of the 'Shibaraku' role, then shedding these to reveal the costume of a voluptuous maiko (young geisha in training), Tsumagiku, who wishes to dance for the entertainment of Lord Raiko. This is the scene depicted in the program. Segawa Kikunojo III, who kneels in the bottom left-hand corner holding a decoration on a stand,wears a kimono with long hanging sleeves (furisode) decorated with the 'crane rhombus' (tsuru-bishi) pattern normally found on a man's 'Shibaraku' costume. Her approach is challenged by Raiko's four retainers, each wearing a wide-shouldered suo jacket decorated with his large crest (mon). Danjuro V as Kintoki stands foremost, posed very much as in our print. Though he is accoutered with the fan and hair decorations of the male 'Shibaraku' role, in this production the action of the role is performed by his female foe.At the top of the stair sits Lord Raiko (played by Sawamura Sojuro III), clearly bewitched by the dancing of the lovely Tsumagiku and reciprocating her gesture with his sake cup. Above the sake cup, however, as yet unnoticed by the warriors, hangs a spider. This reminds the audience that the true identity of the dancer will be revealed, and her plans thwarted, when Raiko sees her reflected in the sake cup- in her true form of an evil spider!A comparison between the program illustration and the print of Danjuro V demonstrates forcefully Shunsho's genius for refining a complex stage tableau into a design of enormous graphic power. Indeed the black robes, with folds picked out in white reserve, not only fill the composition but virtually take ona life of their own. Only the challenging stance, and Danjuro V's angular features appearing out of the kimono like a blade half drawn from its sheath, remind us of the redoubtable warrior within the robes. Louis Ledoux named the print, quite simply, TheBlack Danjuro.Shunsho's pupil Shunjo designed a magnificent five-sheet hosoban showing Segawa Kikunojo III as Tsumagiku flanked by Raiko's four retainers in this performance, very close in style to Shunsho's own work.
Related Image Identifier Link:
AIC_.E19771.TIF
