Surimono of actors,

Part II

Title: Great Wrestler-actors of the East (Adzuma no o-sekitori yakusha)

Description: Actors Ichikawa Danjûrô VII (Ichikawa Ebizô V) (right) and Nakamura Utaemon IV (left) with a sumô umpire's fan. Kunisada designed the portrait of Ichikawa Danjûrô VII (right) and Kuniyoshi designed the portrait of Nakamura Utaemon IV

Size: Dai ôban (about 13.75 by 18.25 inches or 34.5 by 45.5 centimeters)

Date: 1850

Schaap: 1.b.1

Description: Folding album with paintings of actors Ichikawa Danjûrô VIII as Ushiwakamaru (left) and Ichikawa Ebizô V as Kiichi Hôgen (right)

Size: 43 x 51 cm.

Date: 1849

Schaap: 1.b.2

NOTE: The flowering gourd, which is Ichikawa Danjûrô VIII’s symbol, was drawn by Shibata Zeshin.

Description: Actors Ichikawa Danjûrô VII as Soga no Gorô (right), unidentified actor as Maizuru and another actor as Asahina Saburô. Maizuru is tugging on a piece of Soga no Gorô’s armor while Asahina Saburô watches.

Size: 43.1 by 56.5 centimeters

Date: 1851-1852

Schaap: 1.b.3

Title: Praise given to Ichikawa Sanshô (poetry name of Ichikawa Danjûrô VII) from the Shiba Group and the Uogashi Group

Description: A scene from the Boys’ Festival with a large carp streamer partially obscured by a banner of actor Ichikawa Danjûrô VII in the role of Shôki

Size: 16 x 21 inches (40 by 52.5 centimeters)

Printer: Surikô Masa

Date: 1849

Schaap: 1.b.4

I am grateful to Robert Pryor for this alternate state of the above design.

No image available

Description: A large head portrait of an actor in a female role

Size:

Date:

Schaap: 1.c.1

Description: Actor Nakamura Utaemon IV resting on one knee and holding a mortar

Size: Shikishiban (about 7 by 8 inches or 18 by 21 centimeters)

Date: c. 1845-1846

Schaap: 1.c.2

Description: Actors Bandô Mitsugorô IV (right) and Sawamura Tosshô (left) fighting with kyoka poems

Size: 8 ½ x 11 3/16 inches (21.5 x 28.5 cm)

Date: c. 1834

Schaap: 1.c.3

Description: Actors Iwai Hanshirô V as the courtesan Nishikido (left) and Segawa Kikunojô V (right) as a female pilgrim fighting off a ruffian. This is a scene from the kabuki play Edo Sodachi Musume Dôjôji (江戸育娘道成寺) performed in the Nakamura Theater in Edo in the 11^th month of 1827.

Size: Shikishiban diptych (each sheet is about 8 by 7 inches or 21 by 18 centimeters)

Date: 1827-1828

Schaap: 2.c.1

This print is missing Kuniyoshi’s signature and the text in the cartouche.

Description: Actors Onoe Kikugorô III with a bow (right) and Iwai Hanshirô VI holding monkey mask (left) in roles suggesting Minamoto Yorimasa shooting the nue

Size: Shikishiban diptych (each sheet is about 8 by 7 inches or 21 by 18 centimeters)

Date: c. 1835

Schaap: 2.c.2

I am grateful to Robert Pryor for this alternate state of the above design. Note that the poem in the right upper corner is farther away from the actor.

Description: Actors Ichikawa Ebizô V (Ichikawa Danjûrô VII) as a lord (left), Iwai Hanshirô VI as O-Sode, wife of Yomoshichi (center) and Ichikawa Danjûrô VII as Tamiya Iemon (R) in the kabuki play ‘Tokaido yotsuya kaidan’

Size: Shikishiban triptych (each sheet is about 8 by 7 inches or 21 by 18 centimeters)

Date: 1836

Schaap: 2.c.5

Description: Left sheet: Actor Onoe Kikugorô III as an oiran (high-status courtesan), tying her long obi and standing by a palanquin

Center sheet: Actor as a geisha tuning her shamisen

Right sheet: Actor Iwai Hanshirô VI as a miko (shrine maiden) holding an open fan between her teeth

Size: Shikishiban triptych (each sheet is about 8 by 7 inches or 21 by 18 centimeters)

Date: 1836

Schaap: 2.c.7a

I am grateful to Robert Pryor for this image.

Two sheets of the same design as the preceding triptych with Hananari’s (桜蝶の紋) Sakurachô-no-mon Cherry-blossom butterfly mon in the right upper corner. This triptych is listed in Schaap as 2.c.7.

Description: A battledore, a shuttlecock and an envelope of cards for the game of sugoroku. Actors as the Soga brothers are pictured on the envelope.

Size: 8 x 11 inches (hanshibon)

Date:

Schaap: Not listed

NOTE: Although this resembles a surimono, it is actually a two page spread from the ehon (illustrated book) Suigyoren kyôka sugoroku (水魚連狂歌雙六).

Description: Memorial portraits (shini-e) of Ichikawa Danjûrô VIII in two different roles

Size: 19.5 x 53 cm (yokonagaban)

Date: 1854

Schaap: Not listed

Text: 児雷也, 八代目事初日迄ニ木戸仕着せ茶屋みやげ物并私共丁内近辺けいこ中へ三味線箱包大ふろしき白地ニ紅（瓢箪に 八代目）染出し　配り扇子下拙方へも被？送□　兎角白猿ト申キツカケニ而　白イ事望まれ

NOTE: The left portrait is by Kunisada (Toyokuni III) and the right portrait is by Kuniyoshi. I am grateful to Robert Pryor for this image.

Description: Memorial portrait (shini-e) of actor Ichikawa Danjûrô VIII

Size: Ôban triptych (each panel is about 14 by 10 inches or 36 by 25 centimeters)

Date: 1854

Schaap: Not listed

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

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