Actor Ichikawa Yaozō II as Umeōmaru in the play Sugawara denju tenarai kagami (Sugawara’s Secrets of Calligraphy)
Ippitsusai Bunchō, Actor Ichikawa Yaozō II as Umeōmaru in the play Sugawara denju tenarai kagami (Sugawara’s Secrets of Calligraphy), 1768, color woodblock print on paper; nishiki-e, The Mary Andrews Ladd Collection, public domain, 32.160
This work is not currently on view.
- Title
Actor Ichikawa Yaozō II as Umeōmaru in the play Sugawara denju tenarai kagami (Sugawara’s Secrets of Calligraphy)
- Related Titles
original language: 菅原伝授手習鑑：二代目市川八百蔵の梅王丸
- Artist
- Date
1768
- Period
Japan: Edo period (1615-1868)
- Medium
color woodblock print on paper; nishiki-e
- Dimensions (H x W x D)
image: 10 3/4 in x 5 1/16 in; sheet: 12 1/8 in x 5 5/8 in
- Inscriptions & Markings
artist's seal: [illegible], printed in white relief, lower left Language: Japanese
artist's seal: 守氏, printed in red relief on white ground, lower right Transliteration (Translation): Mori uji ([refers to Bunchō's family name at birth, Mori]) Language: Japanese
signature: 一筆斎文調画, printed in black, lower right Transliteration (Translation): Ippitsusai Bunchō ga (picture [by] Bunchō) Language: Japanese
- Collection Area
Asian Art; Graphic Arts
- Category
Prints
Japanese Traditional Prints
- Object Type
relief print
- Culture
Japanese
- Credit Line
The Mary Andrews Ladd Collection
- Accession Number
32.160
- Copyright
public domain
- Terms
This print relates to performances at the Nakamura theater from the twentieth day of the seventh month, 1768, called Mastery of the Fan in Kabuki (Ayatsuri kabuki ōgi 操歌舞妓扇), a medley of plays about heroic, chivalrous commoners restaged as one-acts. This scene comes from the much longer play Sugawara's Secrets of Calligraphy, and shows Umeōmaru, one of three triplets born to a retainer of Sugawara no Michizane, who named them after his favorite trees (plum, pine, and cherry). A design of plum blossoms is cleverly worked into the actor's costume.
- Exhibitions
2019 Dramatic Impressions: Japanese Actor Prints Portland Art Museum
