Arashi Rikan II as Tsumahei and Sawamura Kunitarô II as Magaki

Catalog note / 解説

Although the actors Arashi Rikan II and Sawamura Kunitarô are here pictured as Tsumahei and Magaki in the kabuki play <i>Shin Usuyuki monogatari</i>, this was likely an 'imagined' (mitate) performance. Rival theatres in Edo (present-day Tokyo) put on the same play in competition, but with different titles, in the first month of 1829. Here, the artist pictures the actors from the rival productions as if they are playing opposite one another. 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 urban cultures of Edo, Kyoto and Osaka. Materials: Co…