Witty Matchings of the Thirty-Six Poets (Mitate Sanjurokkasen no uchi)

Object Details

• Artist

  Utagawa Kunisada 歌川国貞 (1786-1865)

• Label

  In this print, Ichikawa Danjuro VI is depicted in the role of Arajishi Otonosuke in a play dealing with the troubles of the Date clan in the fourteenth century. He wears the striking kumadori stage makeup that was introduced by Danjuro I in the late seventeenth century. He holds an iron-framed fan that he used as a weapon in the play to thwart Nikki Danjo, the villain who transformed himself into a rat to steal a scroll. This print is one of a series created by Kunisada in 1852, when he produced a large number of half-length actor portraits. In this series, each actor is matched with one of the Thirty-six Poets, in this case Mibu no Tadamine (flourished 898-920). The poem alludes to the rat-day of the New Year when pine seedlings were gathered as auspicious symbols of longevity:

  Rat-day festivities-

  if there were no pine saplings in the fields

  to serve as a symbol of long life

  what would we have to pull up?

  Translation of poem by John T. Carpenter

• Collection

  National Museum of Asian Art Collection

• Exhibition History

  Masterful Illusions: Japanese Prints from the Anne van Biema Collection (September 15, 2002 to January 9, 2003)

• Origin

  Japan

• Credit Line

  The Anne van Biema Collection

• Type

  Print

• Restrictions and Rights

  Usage Conditions Apply

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• Date

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• Name

  Utagawa, Kunisada

• Place

  Japan

• Topic

  Theater, Art, Actors and actresses, Edo period, Japan, (1600 - 1868), Japanese Art, Anne van Biema collection, Ukiyo-e, Poetry

• Culture

  Japanese

• Object Type

  Prints