The Actor Nakamura Tomijuro II as the Courtesan Kikukawa

Object Details

• Artist

  Shunbaisai Hokuei (active 1829-1837)

• Label

  The renowned onnagata Nakamura Tomijuro II (Matsue III, 1786-1855) is depicted against a wood-grain background as if the portrait were painted on a votive panel of the type offered with prayers to Shinto shrines. Tomijuro wears flamboyant robes, which he turns to display in their full splendor. The haiku (hokku) signed with the actor's poetry name, Keishi, offers gratitude to the gods for inheriting the name Tomijuro, a name previously used by a great Osaka-born onnagata who had died the year his successor was born. The poem reads:

  Bestowed a famous name,

  I proceed along the path of acting

  in this glorious spring season.

  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

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

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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

  Hokuei, Shunbaisai

• Place

  Japan

• Topic

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

• Culture

  Japanese

• Object Type

  Prints