Right-Hand Page: The Actors Bando Hikosaburo III as Soga no Goro (right), and Segawa Kikunojo IV as Onna Asahina (left), in the Play Ume-goyomi Akebono Soga; Left-hand Sheet: The Actors Onoe Matsusuke I as Furugori Shinzaemon (left), and Ichikawa Danjuro V and Kagekiyo (right) in the Play Hatsumombi Kuruwa Soga, Performed at the Nakamura Theater in the First Month, 1780
Katsukawa Shunkо̄
c. 1780
Medium
Color woodblock print; double-page illustration from a theatrical picture-book
Dimensions
15 × 32.3 cm (5 7/8 × 12 11/16 in.)
Classification
woodblock print
Department
Arts of Asia
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
29566
About the Artist
Katsukawa Shunkо̄ · 1743–1812
Katsukawa Shunkō I (1743–1812), born Denjiro Kiyokawa in Edo (modern Tokyo), emerged as a pivotal figure in ukiyo-e woodblock printing. His early life remains sparsely documented, but by the late 1760s, he had begun illustrating books such as *Talks about Debut Plays* (*Kaomise shibai banashi*, 1766). Shunkō studied under the master Katsukawa Shunshō, founder and leader of the Katsukawa school, an...