Nakamura Utaemon III, come back to Edo, Please

Catalog note / 解説

This print depicts the two kabuki actors Nakamura Utaemon III (also known as Shikan) and Nakamura Akashi performing the Sanbasô dance. After four years of working in Edo (present-day Tokyo), Shikan was just about to return to his native Osaka. The text in the print, signed and sealed 'by Manki, a fan', says that all of Edo is united in its mission to prevent Shikan leaving; and that even though he must return, they pray he will come back to Edo and dance Sanbasô again. He did in fact return for another two long tours. Images of kabuki actors are an important genre within Japanese wood-block prints. Both kabuki theatre and woodblock prints flourished in the Edo period (1615-1868), products o…