Surimono of actors,

Part I

I am grateful to Ward Pieters for assisting with this section.

	Series: Untitled series of snow, moon, and flowers (setsugekka) Description: Actor Iwai Hanshirô VI as a seated beauty holding a cat against her bosom, with poems by Ryuotei Gijutsu and Ryukwayen Suien Inset: A theater program and ticket Size: Shikishiban (about 8 by 7 inches or 21 by 18 centimeters) Date: c. 1834 Schaap: 2.b.1.2 NOTE: The inset is shaped like a stylized snowflake (yukiwa, 雪輪)
	Series: Untitled series of snow, moon, and flowers (setsugekka) Description: Actor Iwai Hanshirô V seated by a hibachi with tobacco pipe Inset: buckets filled with fish Size: Shikishiban (about 8 by 7 inches or 21 by 18 centimeters) Date: c. 1834 Schaap: 2.b.1.3 NOTE: The inset is shaped like a full moon.
	Series: Untitled series of snow, moon, and flowers (setsugekka) Description: Actor Onoe Kikugorô III in the role of a seated geisha playing the shamisen Inset: A set of boxes upon a plaited basket on a yoke Size: Shikishiban (about 8 by 7 inches or 21 by 18 centimeters) Date: c. 1834 Schaap: 2.b.1.1 NOTE: The inset is shaped like a flower.
	Series: A Set of Three (Sanbantsuzuki, 三番続) Title: Snow Description: Actor Iwai Kumesaburô II in a female role standing on a bank of the Sumida River with an umbrella in the snow, with a poem by Ryûôtei Hananari Size: Shikishiban (about 8 by 7 inches or 21 by 18 centimeters) Date: c. 1832 Schaap: 2.a.6.2 (listed as a bijin surimono)
	Series: A Set of Three (Sanbantsuzuki, 三番続) Title: Moon Description: Actor Iwai Tojaku I in a female role seated by a shôji screen resting his hands on a long pipe, with a poem by Ryûôtei Hananari Size: Shikishiban (about 8 by 7 inches or 21 by 18 centimeters) Date: c. 1832 Schaap: 2.a.6.1 (listed as a bijin surimono)
	Description: A geisha squatting by the balustrade of a veranda Size: Shikishiban (about 8 by 7 inches or 21 by 18 centimeters) Date: Schaap: 2.d.1.6 NOTE: Schaap suggests that this may be a portrait of the kabuki actor Iwai Hanshirô VI. The figure hidden behind the shoji wearing the kiku (chrysanthemum) mon may be Onoe Kikugorô III. I am grateful to Robert Pryor for the image.
	Series: Untitled series of snow, moon, and flowers (setsugekka) Title: Flowers Description: Actor Onoe Kikugorô III in a female role holding a fan and seated on a mat under a flowering cherry tree, with a poem by Ryûôtei Hananari Size: Shikishiban (about 8 by 7 inches or 21 by 18 centimeters) Date: c. 1830 Schaap: 2.d.1.7 Image courtesy of Richard Illing
	Another state of the above print in which the blue of the sky does not reach the top
	Description: Actor Onoe Kikugorô III reclining in a boat with a pipe in his hand Size: Shikishiban (about 8 by 7 inches or 21 by 18 centimeters) Date: 1825 Schaap: 2.1 NOTE: This surimono was issued by the Hananari-shachû (Hananari Circle). The poem is signed Ryûkaen, and the inscription is signed Ryûôtei Gijutsu.
	Description: Actor Ichikawa Danjûrô VII in the role of Arashishi Otokonosuke seated on a stool with a iron war-fan between his teeth in a scene from the kabuki play Meiboku Sendai hagi. There is a white rat in a bat-shaped cartouche in the top right corner, and two poems are inscribed above. Size: Shikishiban (about 8 by 7 inches or 21 by 18 centimeters) Printer: Surikô Shinzô Date: 1830 Schaap: 2.2
	Description: Actor Nakamura Utaemon IV performing a dance on a hobbyhorse Size: Shikishiban (about 8 by 7 inches or 21 by 18 centimeters) Date: Schaap: 2.3
	Description: Actor Ichikawa Danjûrô VIII kneeling in a performance of Shibaraku with his long sword upright to the left Size: Shikishiban (about 8 by 7 inches or 21 by 18 centimeters) Date: c. 1837-1838 Schaap: 2.4
	Description: Actor Ichikawa Danjûrô VII as a lord holding a raised sword in his left hand and holding on to a constable’s lance, which he is pressing down to the ground Size: Shikishiban (about 8 by 7 inches or 21 by 18 centimeters) Date: Early 1830s Schaap: 2.5
	I am grateful to Marc DeVriese for this variant state of the above surimono
	Yet another state of the above surimono with a different poem in the left upper corner
	Description: Actor Ichikawa Danjûrô VII as Benkei battling actor Iwai Shijaku I (or Iwai Kumesaburô II) as the young Yoshitsune Size: Shikishiban (about 8 by 7 inches or 21 by 18 centimeters) Date: c. 1829-1832 Schaap: 2.6
	I am grateful to and Lucienne Parkan for this alternate state of the above design.
	Description: Two battledores with portraits of actors Sawamura Tosshô I as Soga no Jûrô (right) and Bandô Shûka as his mistress Maizuru (left) Size: Shikishiban (about 8 by 7 inches or 21 by 18 centimeters) Date: c. 1832 Schaap: 2.7
	Description: Popular actors in costume Size: Aiban (about 13 by 9 inches or 34.5 by 22.5 centimeters) Date: 1847-1850 (censors Mera and Murata) Schaap: Not listed Publisher: Mikawa-ya Denbei

“Schaap” refers to listing in Heroes and Ghosts: Japanese Prints by Kuniyoshi by Robert Schaap (Hotei Publishing, Leiden, 1998).

CLICK HERE TO GO TO PART II