Miscellaneous bust portraits of actors

Part I

This section is intended to display bust and half-length portraits of actors that are not from series.  Undoubtedly, some are single sheets from larger works, and some may be from unrecognized series.  Unless otherwise noted, these prints are each about 14 by 10 inches (36 by 25 centimeters), a size known as ôban.  I am grateful to Ward Pieters for assisting with this section.

 

Actor: Ichikawa Ebizô V as Kumagai Jirô Naozane, who renounced his life as warrior and became a Buddhist monk under the name Renshô-bô

Play: Ichinotani futaba gunki

Date: 1850

Publisher: Enshû-ya Hikobei

 

Actor: Nakamura Utaemon IV as Ôboshi Yuranosuke (大星由良之助)

Play: Kanadehon Chûshingura

Date: 7th month of 1839

Theater: Nakamura-za

Publisher: Jôshû-ya Jûzô

 

 

Actor:

Play:

Description: Samurai holding a sword and biting on a purple silk cloth turns around to see a large spider’s web

Date:

Publisher:

 

Actor: Arashi Rikaku II (二代目嵐璃珏) as a sanbasô marionette (ayatsuri sanbasô, あやつり三番叟) suspended from strings

Dance: Yanagi no Ito Hikuya Gohiiki

Date: 2nd month of 1853

Publisher: Yamamoto-ya Heikichi

 

Actor: Ichikawa Ebizô V as Yoshioka Kiichi Hôgen

Play: Kiichi Hôgen Sanryaku no Maki

Date: 9th month of 1850

Theater: Kawarasaki

Publisher: Musashi-ya Isaburô

 

NOTE: This print is about 10 by 7 inches (25 by 18 centimeters), a size known as chûban.

 

Actor: Ichikawa Danjûrô VIII as Okabe Rokuyata (岡部六弥太)

Play: Ichinotani mushae no iezuto (一谷武者画土産)

Date: 8th month of 1849

Publisher: Hayashi-ya Shôgorô (林屋庄五郎)

 

Actor: Ichimura Uzaemon XII as Abe no Yasuna (安倍保名)

Play: On Mitsugi Shinoda no hatsumono (御貢信田今歳稲)

Date: 8th month of 1839

Theater: Ichimura-za

Publisher: Jôshû-ya Jûzô

 

 

 

Actor: Ichikawa Danjûrô VIII as Jiraiya (児雷也)

Play: The Heroic Tales of Jiraiya (Jiraiya gôketsu monogatari, 児雷也豪傑譚語)

Date: 7th month of 1852

Theater: Kawarasaki-za

Publisher:

 

Actor: Nakamura Utaemon IV as Aoto Fujitsuna (青砥藤綱)

Play: Aoto zôshi (青砥稿)

Date: 7th month of 1846

Theater: Ichimura-za

Publisher: Sumiyoshi-ya Masagorô

 

Actor: Actor Nakamura Utaemon IV as the dieing Ôtaka Shuden becoming a ghost

Play: Takagi Oriemon budojitsu roku

Date: 8th month of 1848 (censors Muramatsu and Yoshimura)

Publisher: under a single mountain is identified as Hori Takichi of Yushima in Kuniyoshi by B. W. Robinson (Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 1961), but as Ôta-ya Takichi in Publishers of Japanese Woodblock Prints: A Compendium by Andreas Marks (Hotei Publishing, Leiden, 2011)

 

 

 

Actors: Ichikawa Kodanji IV as Ishikawa Goemon (石川五右衛門) and Seki Kasuke as his son Gorôichi ( 五郎市)

Play: Konoshita Soga Megumi no Masagoji (木下曽我恵砂路)

Date: 1st month of 1851

Theater: Nakamura

Publisher: under a single mountain is identified as Hori Takichi of Yushima in Kuniyoshi by B. W. Robinson (Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 1961), but as Ôta-ya Takichi in Publishers of Japanese Woodblock Prints: A Compendium by Andreas Marks (Hotei Publishing, Leiden, 2011)

 

 

Actor: Ichikawa Danjûrô VIII as the priest Narukami 

Play: Narukami

Date: 5th month of 1851

Publisher: Kakumoto-ya Kinjirô (seal on post)

 

 

 

Actor: Ichikawa Danjûrô VIII as the priest Seigen

Play: Koi (goro mo) Karigane zome (恋衣雁金染)

Date: 1st month of 1852

Theater: Kawarasaki

Publisher: Kakumoto-ya Kinjirô (seal on post)

 

NOTE: The blocks for the above print were altered and reused.  Note that the text in the two red cartouches in the right upper corner has changed.

 

 

Actor: Ichikawa Kodanji IV as priest Koyo being tortured with boiling oil

Play: Otogi banashi hakata no imaori

Date: 9th month of 1852

Publisher: Kawachi-ya Chôzô

 

NOTE: Scenes of torture are common in kabuki

 

Actor: Ichikawa Danjûrô VIII as Benkei holding subscription list

Play: Kanjinchô (勧進帳, The Subscription List)

Date: 3rd month of 1849

Theater: Kawarasaki

Publisher: Kazusa-ya Iwazô

 

Actor: Bandô Shuka I as the courtesan Shiraito (白糸) of the House of Hashimoto-ya (橋本屋)

Play: Sumidagawa tsui no kagamon (隅田川対高賀紋)

Date: 3rd month of 1852

Theater: Nakamura

Publisher: Ise-ya Kanekichi

 

Another state of the above design

 

Actor: Bandô Shuka I as the courtesan Shiraito (白糸) of the House of Hashimoto-ya (橋本屋)

Play: Sumidagawa tsui no kagamon

Date: 3rd month of 1852

Publisher: Enshû-ya Hikobei

 

NOTE: Kuniyoshi used Western style perspective for the back ground architecture

 

Actor: Bandô Shuka I as the courtesan Shiraito (白糸) of the House of Hashimoto-ya (橋本屋)

holding a gold coin

Play: Sumidagawa tsui no kagamon

Date: 3rd month of 1852

Publisher: Sumiyoshi-ya Masagoro

 

 

 

Actor: Bandô Shûka I as Ohide (おひで)

Play: Manete Mimasu yotsuya no kikigaki (当三升四谷聞書, Ghost stories at Yotsuya)

Date: 9th month of 1848

Theater: Ichimura

Publisher: Sumiyoshi-ya Masagorô

 

Actor: Ichikawa Kodanji IV as Asakura Tôgo

Play: Higashiyama Sakura sôshi (東山桜荘子, The Higashiyama Storybook)

Date: 8th month of 1851

Theater: Nakamura

Publisher: Enshû-ya Hikobei

 

Actor: Iwai Kamesaburô III as Oshichi

Play: Sono mukashi koi no edozome (其往昔恋江戸染)

Date: 1st month of 1849

Theater: Nakamura-za

Publisher: Sumiyoshi-ya Masagorô

 

Image courtesy of Ward Pieters

 

Actor: Ichikawa Danjûrô VIII as Kagekiyo (景清)

Play: Ichinotani mushae no iezuto (一谷武者画土産)

Date: 8th month of 1849

Theater: Kawarasaki

Publisher: Ebi-ya Rinnosuke

 

Actor: Ichikawa Danjûrô VIII as Watonai (和藤内)

Play: Kokusenya kassen (国性爺合戦)

Date: 5th month of 1850

Theater: Namakura-za

Publisher: Ebi-ya Rinnosuke

 

Actor: Ichimura Uzaemon XII as之助?女之助 (possibly Menosuke)

Play:

Date: 1846-1848 (censors Muramatsu and Yoshimura)

Theater:

Publisher: Iba-ya Sensaburô

 

Actors: Ichikawa Danjûrô VIII as Teraoka Heiemon (寺岡平右ェ門)

Play: Kanadehon Chûshingura (仮名手本忠臣蔵)

Date: 2nd month of 1851 (censors Hama and Magome)

Theater: Ichimura

Publisher: Kakumoto-ya Kinjirô

 

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