The Actor Nakamura Utaemon III as Ichikawa Goemon Disguised as the Farmer Gosaku

Object Details

• Artist

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

• Label

  Kabuki actors in Osaka fostered a realistic style of performance that was distinct from that of Edo, and the prints published in Osaka also developed a unique style. A versatile and talented star of the Osaka theater, Nakamura Utaemon III plays the role of Ishikawa Goemon, a ronin (masterless samurai) bandit and rebel whose exploits were the subject of many kabuki dramas. In the premier performance of Keisei setsugekka, a play that Utaemon wrote under his pen name, he wears the disguise of a farmer and calls upon the arts employed by ninja (secret agents) to elude the warriors who pursue him. The warriors are visible behind the fine, black gauze stage curtain that represents smoke in this outstanding print by Hokushu, whose collaboration with the master block engraver, Kasuke, produced some of the finest Osaka prints.

• 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

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

• Culture

  Japanese

• Object Type

  Prints