Actor triptychs
1815 – 1846, Part I
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These actor triptychs and diptychs were published
between 1815 and the 11th month of 1846, but I have been unable to associate
them with a particular production. They
generally bear a single circular censor’s seal without an oval date
seal. These seals are usually near the
artist’s signature, and sometimes are only found on a single sheet of a
multi-sheet composition. Prints
without actorsʼ names were generally published in 1842 or later. |
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Actors: Iwai Shijaku I as 仲ゐお松 実ハ☆式部 (left) and
Ichikawa Danjûrô Play: Possibly Keisei hangonkô
(けいせい反魂香 ) Date: 1822-1832 Publisher: Azuma-ya Daisuke |
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Actors: Left sheet: Bandô Kumajûrô
II (坂東熊十郎) as Saitô Yoshitatsu
(斎藤義竜) Center sheet: Ichimura Uzaemon
XII as Tarui Notota (垂井ノ藤太) Right sheet: Bandô
Mitsugorô IV as Takenaka Hanbei
Shigeharu (竹中官兵兵衛重治) and Bandô Matahachi
(坂東又八) as Mikuni Kojorô (三国九郎次) Play: Date: c. 1833-1835 Theater: Publisher: Edo-ya Matsugorô I am grateful to
Lucienne Parkan for this triptych. |
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Actors: Unidentified
actors as Umeômaru (梅王丸, center sheet)
and Sugawara no Michizane (right sheet) Play: Sugawara Denju Tenarai Kagami (菅原伝授手習鑑) Date: 1843-1846
(censor Yoshimura) Publisher: Sa (phonetic
reading ofサ) |
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Actors:
Arashi Kichisaburô III as Igami no Gonda (いがみの権太) Play:
Probably Yoshitsune Senbon
zakura (義経千本桜) Date:
c. 1841-1842 Publisher: Tsuta-ya Kichizô NOTE: Most of the woodblocks for this print, and
probably the complete triptych, were also used for a triptych bearing
Kunisada’s signature. The triptych
with Kunisada’s signature is for a performance of Yoshitsune Senbon zakura (義経千本桜), at the Ichimura theater in the 3rd
month of 1839. The actors are Ichikawa Kuzô II as Igami no Gonta (いがみの権太, left), Ichimura Uzaemon
XII as Yasuke (弥助, center), and Iwai Tojaku
as Osato (お里, right).
I am grateful to
Lucienne Parkan and Horst Graebner for the above
information. |
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Actors: Actor
Ichikawa Ebizô V (市川 海老蔵) Play: Date: Publisher: |
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Actors: Left sheet: Iwai Tojaku as Chidori (in
foreground), Ôtani Mansaku
II as Senô Tarô Kaneyasu (on ship) and Ichikawa Danjûrô VIII as Tanzaemon (on ship) Right sheet: Sawamura Tosshô
I as Shunkan Play: Heike
Nyogo no Shima (平家女護嶋
or 平家女護島, The Heike and the
Women-Protecting Island) Date: 1838-1844 Publisher:
Ezaki-ya Kichibei NOTE: This diptych may be for an 1840 production of Heike
Nyogo no Shima at the Kita Theater in Kyôtô. I am
grateful to Lucienne Parkan and Horst Graebner for
this information. |
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Actors: Nakamura Utaemon IV as Jirô (治良蔵, left),
Ichimura Uzaemon XII as Heiji (平治, center), and Onoe Kikujirô II as Haru On’na (はる女, right) Play: Date: 1842-1846
(censor Watanabe Shôemon) Publisher: Kame-ya Iwakichi NOTE: This triptych might
represent the New Year’s dance titled Kashiragaki Ise Monogatari which
was performed at the Ichimura Theater in the 1st month of 1843,
within the play Kioi Uta Soga no Hanadashi. However, actor prints were banned at that
time by the “Tenpô reforms”. An
alternative explanation is that this is a mitate of the play Seishû Akogi-ga-Ura. |
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Actors: Bandô Mitsugorô IV as Atsuma no ??? (あつまの連五郎, left) and
Onoe Kikugorô Play: Date: c. 1833-1835 Publisher: Daikoku-ya |
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Actors: Ichikawa Ebizô V as Kamakuraya no Tomo (かまくらやの友) Play: Date: c. 1833 Publisher: Izumi-ya Ichibei |
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Actors: A mitate of Sawamura Tosshô I as Ôiso
no Tora (大 磯のとら) Date: c. 1841-1842 Publisher: Kawaguchi-ya Shôzô NOTE: The text reads mitate,
Ôiso no Tora, Sawamura Tosshô (見立, 大磯のとら, 澤村 訥升). Mitate are portrayals
of actors in imagined or fantasy roles, which they never actually performed
on stage. I am grateful to Susan
Porter for this image and to to Lucienne Parkan for information about the
print. |
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Actors: Onoe Kikugorô III
possibly as Kanpei (のやかん平, left), Iwai Tojaku
I as the geisha Okaru (げいしゃおかる, center), and
Ichikawa Ebizô V as Ônoya
Kihei (大のや喜平, right) Play: Date: c.
1835 Publisher: Jôshû-ya Jûzô I am grateful to Lucienne Parkan for
this image. |
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Actor: Onoe Kikugorô III, possibly as Honchô Tsunagorô Play: Date: c. 1830-1840 Publisher: Kawaguchi-ya Chôzô |
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Actors: Ichikawa Ebizô V as Umemaru Genba (梅丸玄番,
left), Iwai Tojaku I as Matsugae (松ヶ枝,
center), and Onoe Kikugorô III
as Michizane (道真公,
right) Play: Probably Sugawara denju tenarai kagami Date: c. 1833-1835 Theater: Publisher: Maru-ya Seijirô I am grateful to Marc DeVriese for
this image. |
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Actors: Sawamura Tosshô I as Hachiman Kuro no Sangorô
(八幡黒の三五郎) Play: Theater: Date: c. 1831 Publisher: Kawaguchi-ya Shôzô NOTE: Sawamura is written
as 澤村 instead of as the more usual 沢村, and Hachiman kan (八幡官) is written on the kimono. I am grateful to Lucienne Parkan
and Horst Graebner for information about this print. |
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Actors:
Ichimura Uzaemon XII as Hanbei (半兵衛, left) and Nakamura Utaemon IV as Kôsuke (幸助, right) Play:
Possibly Fude Hajime Soga no fukubiki (筆始曽我福贔屓) which was performed in the 1st month
of 1841 in the Ichimura Theater Publisher:
Yamamoto-ya Heikichi I am grateful to Marc DeVriese
and Lucienne Parkan for this image. |
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Title on each
sheet:
Set of Three Varieties of Accomplishments Compared (Zokugei kurabe sampuku tsui, 諸芸競三幅対) People: Oshichi (お七, snow, left), Kichiza (吉三, flowers, center), and Baisao (売茶翁, moon, right) Date: 1842-1846 (censor Murata
Sahei) Publisher: Enshû-ya Matabei NOTE: This may have
been an attempt to circumvent the ban on actor prints during the “Tenpô reforms”.
These three ôban sheets are
listed as series 105 in Kuniyoshi
by Basil William Robinson, 1961, |
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Actors: Ôtani Tomoemon IV as Kudô Inubômaru Suketomo (工藤犬坊丸祐友) Play: An unidentified play about the Soga Brothers Date: c. 1833-1835 Publisher: Yamaguchi-ya Tobei |
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Actors: Play: Date: c. 1824 Publisher: Azuma-ya Daisuke I am grateful to Frederik Balhuizen
and Josta Klaassen for the image on the right, which does not have any
purple. |
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Actors: Sawamura Tosshô I as Kinokuniya Gengorô (きのくにや五郎, left), Iwai Hanshirô VI,
formerly Kumesaburô II, as Oyama (おやつ, center), and
Nakamura Shikan II as Ibishi no Kangorô
(いびしの翫五郎, right) Play: Date: 1832-1833 Publisher: Yamamoto-ya Heikichi NOTE: Iwai Kumesaburô II
changed his name to Iwai Hanshirô VI in the 11th
month of 1832 and Shikan II returned to Osaka in the fall of 1833. |
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I am grateful to Robert Pryor for these two
sheets from an aizuri-e variant of the above triptych. |
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Actors: Iwai Tojaku as Mikazuki Osen (三日月おせん, left) and
Ichikawa Ebizô V as Ebizako
no Jû (ゑびざこの十, right) Play: Date: c. 1833 Publisher: Kawaguchi-ya Shôzô NOTE: Iwai Hanshirô V assumed the name of Iwai Tojaku in the 11th
month of 1832. The text on the
umbrella reads Ebizako (ゑびざ…). I am grateful to Robert Pryor for this
image. |
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Actors: Nakamura
Shikan II as Saimon'ya Keijûrô
(西門屋啓十郎, left),
Ichikawa Ebizo V as the boatman Musashiya
no Matsu (船頭武蔵屋の松, center), and
Iwai Tojaku as the geisha (藝者) Takane (or Tagane)
no Oren (たかねのおれん, right) Play: This triptych
is a mitate of Bakin’s Shinpen
Kinpeibai (The Plum in the Golden Vase, a New
Version) Date: 11th
month of 1832 Publisher: Izumi-ya Ichibei I am grateful to Robert Pryor for the above information. |
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Actors: Nakamura
Shikan II as the monk Ikkyû Taro (一休太郎, left), Segawa
Kikunojô V as the courtesan Jigoku-dayu
(けいせい地ごく太夫, center), and
Seki Sanjûrô II as Nozarashi
Gosuke (のざらし吾助, right) Play: This is a mitate, meaning that it is an
imaginary theatrical scene that was never actually performed on stage Date:
c. 1831-1832 Publisher:
Shin'ise-ya Kohei NOTE: Jigoku-dayu is known as the “Lady from Hell”, and her kimono is decorated with scenes of
Hell. The upper right corner of this
triptych is inscribed mitate (見立), indicating
that these actors did not actually perform these roles together on
stage. The right sheet is signed 一勇斎 國よし 画 (Ichiyûsai Kuniyoshi ga),
with the “yoshi” character written in hiragana as よし instead of the
usual 芳. I am grateful to Lucienne Parkan for information about this triptych. |
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Actor: Mitate (見立)
of Bandô Mitsugorô III as
Yawata Saburô (坂東 三津五郎, left) and Onoe Kikugorô
III as Ômi Kotôta (尾上菊五郎, right) Play: This is a mitate,
meaning that it is an imaginary theatrical scene that was never actually
performed on stage Date: c. 1832 Publisher: Kawaguchi-ya Shôzô I am grateful to
Lucienne Parkan for information about this diptych. |
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Actor: Nakamura Shikan II as Honda Hyatanosuke (本田隼人之助) or possibly Honda Hyato
no Suke Play: Date: c. 1830-1832 Publisher: Kawaguchi-ya Shôzô I am grateful to Robert Pryor for this image. |
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Actor: Iwai Tojaku possibly as Miyagino no Onobu (みやぎ之のお之ぶ), but the reading is uncertain Play: Date: c. 1839 Publisher: Jôshû-ya Kinzô |
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Actor: Iwai Tojaku
as Kiyokawa (清川) with giant anchor Play: Date: c. 1833-1836 Publisher: Maru-ya Seijirô I am grateful to Robert Pryor for this image. |
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