Ukiyo-e Educational Catalog · Record 134139

Nakamura Utaemon III (Shikan) as Ikyû and Ichikawa Hakuen (Danjûrô VII) as Sukeroku

Artist / 作者
Izutsuya Denbei
Date / 年代
1830
Medium / 技法
浮世絵 / Ukiyo-e / Edo / vam
Digital record / 画像記録
1444 × 2000 px
Source collection / 所蔵元
Victoria and Albert Museum
Published by / 公開者
小春ユイ
Rights / 権利
Commercial license required
Attribution / 表記
Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Catalog note / 解説

This woodblock print depicts two actors in the play <i>Sukeroku yukari no Edo-zakura</i> (Sukeroku: Flower of Edo) at the Kado theatre in Edo (present-day Tokyo) in 1830. At the top right is the actor Nakamura Utaemon III (Shikan) in the role of Ikyû, while at the bottom left is the actor Ichikawa Hakuen (Danjûrô VII) as Sukeroku. The play recounts Sukeroku's quest to find his family's treasured sword, Tomokirimaru. Discovering that Ikyû possesses it, he kills him and retrieves the sword. Images of kabuki actors are an important genre within Japanese woodblock prints. Both kabuki theatre and woodblock prints flourished in the Edo period (1615-1868), products of the increasingly vibrant urba…

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