The Actor Nakamura Utaemon III as Kan Shojo

Object Details

• Artist

  Shunkosai Hokushu 春好斎北洲 (fl. ca. 1802-1832)

• Label

  Nakamura Utaemon III appears here in the role of Kan Shojo (Sugawara no Michizane, 845-903) in the kabuki play, Sugawara and the Secrets of Calligraphy (Sugawara denju tenarai kagami). The performance took place in the third month of 1823 and Utaemon performed seven roles. The play is loosely based on the biography of the ill-fated aristocrat and calligrapher who was maneuvered into exile by his rivals at court. This portrait has a printed wood-grain background and frame with black ornaments that represent iron fittings. The effect replicates an ema, a votive panel presented as an offering at a Shinto shrine. The word hono (offering) is written (right to left) at the top of the frame. A haiku (hokku) signed Shikan, Utaemon's poetry name, expresses his pleasure that with the arrival of spring he can wear flowery robes and the cotton textiles from Kawachi:

  Spring has arrived-

  so I don flowery robes

  and Kawachi cotton.

  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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  1700s, 1710s, 1720s, 1770s, 1780s, 1790s, 1730s, 1740s, 1750s, 1760s, 1800s, 1810s, 1820s, 1830s, 1610s, 1650s, 1640s, 1630s, 1620s, 1690s, 1840s, 1680s, 1850s, 1670s, 1860s, 1660s

• Name

  Shunkosai, Hokushu

• Place

  Japan

• Topic

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

• Culture

  Japanese

• Object Type

  Prints