The Actor Arashi Rikan II as Sasaki Saburo Moritsuna

Object Details

• Artist

  Shunbaisai Hokuei (active 1829-1837)

• Label

  In this stunning portrait, the Osaka actor Arashi Rikan II (1788-1837) plays the lead role of Sasaki Moritsuna in the play popularly known as Moritsuna jinya. Inspired by the Battle of Osaka Castle in the summer of 1615, in which Tokugawa Ieyasu finally destroyed the son of his late rival, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the play was set in the less politically sensitive Kamakura period (1185-1333). The emphatic graphic quality of the black costume is accentuated by the repetition of the actor's family crest in the drawn-up curtain overhead. Accents of brass, embossing, and overprinted black patterns on the costume lend luxurious detail to what might otherwise be a stark image.

• 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

  There are restrictions for re-using this media. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page.

  The information presented on this website may be revised and updated at any time as ongoing research progresses or as otherwise warranted. Pending any such revisions and updates, information on this site may be incomplete or inaccurate or may contain typographical errors. Neither the Smithsonian nor its regents, officers, employees, or agents make any representations about the accuracy, reliability, completeness, or timeliness of the information on the site. Use this site and the information provided on it subject to your own judgment. The National Museum of Asian Art welcomes information that would augment or clarify the ownership history of objects in their collections.

Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• 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

  Hokuei, Shunbaisai

• 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

• Culture

  Japanese

• Object Type

  Prints