Onoe Matsusuke I as Matsushita Mikinoshin in the play Katakiuchi noriai banashi (A Medley of Tales of Revenge)
Tōshūsai Sharaku, Onoe Matsusuke I as Matsushita Mikinoshin in the play Katakiuchi noriai banashi (A Medley of Tales of Revenge), 1794, color woodblock print with mica on paper; nishiki-e, The Mary Andrews Ladd Collection, public domain, 32.320
This work is not currently on view.
- Title
Onoe Matsusuke I as Matsushita Mikinoshin in the play Katakiuchi noriai banashi (A Medley of Tales of Revenge)
- Related Titles
original language: 尾上松助の松下酒之進 敵討乗合話
- Artist
- Related People
publisher: Tsutaya Jūzaburō (Japanese, active 1774-4th month 1852)
- Date
1794
- Period
Japan: Edo period (1615-1868)
- Medium
color woodblock print with mica on paper; nishiki-e
- Dimensions (H x W x D)
image/sheet: 14 7/8 in x 10 in
- Inscriptions & Markings
publisher's mark: [stylized ivy leaf under a triple-peak mountain form], printed in black ink, center left Translation: [crest of the publisher Tsutaya Jūzaburō 蔦屋重三郎 (1750-1797)] Language: Japanese
censor's mark: 極, printed in black ink, within a circular cartouche, center left Transliteration (Translation): kiwame (approval) Language: Japanese
signature: 東洲斎写楽画, printed in black ink, upper left Transliteration (Translation): Tōshūsai Sharaku ga (picture [by] Tōshūsai Sharaku) 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
32.320
- Copyright
public domain
- Terms
Onoe Matsusuke I (1744-1815) was a leading star in Edo kabuki for over fifty years. He is shown at the height of his career as the masterless samurai Matsushita Mikinoshin, a central character in a compilation of revenge stories performed in the fifth month of 1794 at the Kiri theater. The actor's bewildered expression and disheveled appearance—hair springing from his normally shaven pate and beard—are signs of Mikinoshin's inner turmoil in a scene just before his murder, which would later be avenged by Mikinoshin's two daughters.
This print comes from a rare and famous series by the artist Sharaku, who designed close-up depictions of kabuki actors on stage over ten months in 1794-1795, then mysteriously and abruptly stopped producing designs. The prints were issued in large format with shimmering mica backgrounds—luxury materials that indicate a significant investment on the part of the publisher Tsutaya Jūzaburō (1750-1797). These prints are among the most prized of all Japanese prints today for their relative rarity and for Sharaku's idiosyncratic artistic style.
- Exhibitions
2019 Dramatic Impressions: Japanese Actor Prints Portland Art Museum
