The Actors Ogino Isaburo as Soga no Goro and Sawamura Sojuro I as Kudo no Suketsune

Object Details

• Artist

  Torii Kiyomasu II (1706?-1763?)

• Label

  Fight scenes are a highlight of many kabuki plays, especially jidaimono, period plays based on historical events. Here the villain Kudo Suketsune, played by the actor Sawamura Sojuro I, brandishes a giant ax as he attacks the young hero Soga no Goro, played by Ogino Isaburo. The exaggerated, dancelike poses struck by the actors are choreographed to heighten the visual effect of the struggle. The story of the Soga brothers' vendetta against the uncle who had killed their father was first made popular in puppet plays by Chikamatsu Monzaemon. By the 1730s, Soga plays were regularly included in New Year kabuki performances. The powerful linear expression and the stylized figures in this print are characteristic of the dynamic style of actor prints that became a specialty of the Torii school of artists.

• 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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• 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

  Torii, Kiyomasu

• Place

  Japan

• Topic

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

• Culture

  Japanese

• Object Type

  Prints