Actors playing the game of ken,
Part
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Triptych title: Three People
Drinking at the Beginning of Spring (Shunkyô sannin namayoi) Dance interlude: Warau kado niwaka no shichifuku Description: Ôban triptych of actors Ichikawa Kuzô
II, Nakamura Utaemon IV as fisherman Hinokiguma Hamanari (center),
and Matsumoto Kinshô I playing ken Date: 3rd
month of 1847 (censors Muramatsu and Yoshimura) Theater: Kawarasaki Publisher: Takano-ya Tomoemon Linhart: 9/30033 I am grateful to Robert Pryor for this image. |
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Triptych title: Comic Ken (Dôke miburi ken) Dance interlude: Warau kado niwaka no shichifuku Description: Ôban triptych of actors Nakamura Utaemon IV, Ichikawa Kuzô II, and Matsumoto Kinshô I playing ken Date: 3rd
month of 1847 Theater: Kawarasaki Publisher: Kazusa-ya Iwazô Linhart: 10/30024 |
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Diptych title: Shinsaku tsukutsukuken (新作つく／＼けん) Dance interlude: Tabi suzume
Miyoshi no irogoto (Romance of the Traveling
Sparrow Miyoshi) Description: Actors
Ichikawa Kuzô II (left)
and Nakamura Utaemon IV (right) playing ken Date: 9th
month of 1847 Theater: Kawarasaki Publisher: Iba-ya Kyûbei Linhart: 22/20011 |
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Diptych title: Beauty
Contest of the Things that Belong Together (Irokurabe
Tsukumono ken) Dance interlude: Tabi suzume
Miyoshi no irogoto (Romance of the Traveling
Sparrow Miyoshi) Description: Actors
Ichikawa Kuzô II (left)
and Nakamura Utaemon IV (right) playing ken Date: 9th
month of 1847 Theater: Kawarasaki Publisher: Linhart: 23/20012 |
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Diptych title: Tsukumono-ken hitori geiko Dance interlude: Tabi suzume
Miyoshi no irogoto (Romance of the Traveling
Sparrow Miyoshi) Description: Actors
Ichikawa Kuzô II (left)
and Nakamura Utaemon IV (right) playing ken Date: 9th
month of 1847 Theater: Kawarasaki Publisher: Kita-ya Magobei Linhart: 24/20013 |
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Diptych title: Tsukumono-ken Dance interlude: Tabi suzume
Miyoshi no irogoto (Romance of the Traveling
Sparrow Miyoshi) Description: Actors
Ichikawa Kuzô II (left),
Nakamura Utaemon IV (right), and Onoe Baikô IV (in female role) playing ken Date: 9th
month of 1847 Theater: Kawarasaki Publisher: Iba-ya Sensaburô Linhart: 25/20014 |
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Diptych title: Untitled Dance interlude: Tabi suzume Miyoshi
no irogoto (Romance of the Traveling Sparrow
Miyoshi) Description: Actors
Nakamura Utaemon IV (left) and Ichikawa Kuzô II (right) playing ken Date: 9th
month of 1847 Publisher: Ebi-ya Rinnosuke Theater: Kawarasaki Linhart: 26/20015 |
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Ôban title: Three
Countries’ Ken (Sangoku ken, 三国拳) Dance interlude: A Ken Game
with New Rules to the First Cry of the Cock (Shinki ikken tori no hatsugoe, 新規一拳酉魁声) Description: Actors
Nakamura Utaemon IV, Ichimura Uzaemon
XII and Seki Sanjûrô Date: 1st
month of 1849 (censors Publisher: Izutsu-ya Shôkichi Theater: Ichimura Linhart: 35/10021 NOTE: This print is signed Ichiyûsai
giga (一勇斎戯画). I am grateful to Marc DeVriese
for this image. |
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Diptych title: Sangokuken Actors:
Left sheet: Bandô Shûka I
as Ohide of Kewaizaka (大中の丁お秀, female) and Ichimura Uzaemon
XII as Tobigashira Kakichi
(鳶の頭嘉吉) Right sheet: Nakamura
Utaemon IV as the fortuneteller (uranaisha) Sangokuken (駒形の占者三☆) Dance interlude: Shinki ikken tori no hatsugoe (A Ken
Game with New Rules to the First Cry of the Cock) Date:
1st month of 1849 (censors Hama and Magome) Publisher:
Ôta-ya Takichi Theater:
Ichimura Linhart: 36/20016 |
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Title: Tori no haru shinki ikken tori sangokuken Description: Actors
Nakamura Utaemon IV, Ichimura Uzaemon
XII and Seki Sanjûrô Date: 2nd
month of 1849 (censors Kinugasa and Yoshimura) Linhart: 43/10042 I am grateful to Robert Pryor for this image. |
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Title: Asakusa-ken Description: Actors Arashi
Yoshisaburô Dance interlude: The Treasure
Ship Entering the Date: 2nd
month of 1853 Publisher: Tsujioka-ya Bunsuke Linhart: 59/10152 |
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Triptych title: None Dance interlude: Hana ni Tori Sakigake Soga (花鳥魁曽我) Description: Actors
Nakamura Shikan I (left) and Bandô Minosuke II (center) in the roles of Shichibei
and Sangorô are playing sangoku-ken. Actor Seki Sanjûrô II is watching (right). Date: 1st
month of 1832 Theater: Nakamura Publisher: Ota-ya Sakichi Linhart: Not listed I am grateful to Robert Pryor for this image. |
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Polyptych title: Collection of
Eight Ken Games of the East (Azuma hakken shû, 東八拳集) Description: Ôban polyptych of actors playing ken
1.
Sawamura Sôjûrô V Date: 7th
month of 1852 Publisher: Mita-ya Kihachi (left two sheets)
and Yamaguchi-ya Tôbei
(right two sheets) Linhart: /40001 |
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I am grateful to Robert Pryor for this alternate
state of the above design with the actor’s names. |
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Sheet from another state of the above polyptych |
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Diptych title: Twilight Ken (Yûgure ken) Description: Ôban diptych of actors in female roles
playing ken during a kabuki musical interlude. The portraits in the two circles are
Sawamura Chôjûrô V as Meshitsukai
Ohatsu (召仕お初, left) and
Onoe Baikô IV as chûrô
Onoe (中老尾上, right). The following actors are displayed (from
left to right): Onoe: Onoe Kikugorô IV Yadorigi: unknown Ushijima Chikara: unknown Iwafuji: Matsumoto Kinshô I Yokobue: Ôtani Tomoemon IV Yomogifu: Seki Sanjûrô E-awase: Nakayama Genjûrô Ohatsu: Sawamura Sôjûrô V Tokonatsu: unknown Akashi: Ôtani Hiroemon
V Date: 3rd
month of 1848 (censors Muramatsu and Yoshimura) Publisher: Iba-ya Sensaburô Linhart: /20007 |
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Title of
triptych: 看立三社 Dance interlude: Tabi suzume
Miyoshi no irogoto (Romance of the Traveling
Sparrow Miyoshi) Description: Actors
Nakamura Utaemon IV (left), Onoe Baikô IV (center), and Ichikawa Kuzô II (right), dancing Date: 9th
month of 1847 Publisher: Wakasen (若仙) Theater: Kawarasaki Linhart: Not listed |
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Title of
triptych: Gestures of Comical Roles in Kabuki Plays (道外見ぶりけん, Dôke miburi ken) Play:
Iro shina o kaete ken zake (色品替拳酒) Date:
1st month of 1848 (censors Muramatsu and Yoshimura) Theater:
Nakamura Publisher: Kazusa-ya Iwazô Linhart: Not listed |
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“Linhart” refers to listing in the article ‘Kuniyoshi’s
Ken Caricatures between 1847 and 1853’, by Sepp Linhart in Andon, Vol. 83, 2008, pp. 5-29 CLICK HERE TO RETURN TO MAIN
PAGE
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