The Actor Ichikawa Danjuro V as Sansho Dayu (?)
c. 1780
Medium
Color woodblock print; hosoban
Dimensions
30.3 × 13.3 cm (11 15/16 × 5 1/4 in.)
Classification
woodblock print
Department
Arts of Asia
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
22515
Art Historical Context
In the vibrant world of 18th-century Edo (modern Tokyo), Torii Kiyonaga's *The Actor Ichikawa Danj V as Sansho Day* (c. 1780) captures the theatrical splendor of kabuki. This color woodblock print, tentatively identified with its dramatic title, portrays the famed kabuki star Ichikawa Danjūrō V in the role of Sansho Dayu, a menacing figure from Japanese folklore. Kiyonaga, a master of the Torii school renowned for yakusha-e (actor prints), blends precise lines with subtle shading to evoke the actor's intense expression and flowing robes, drawing viewers into the "floating world" of ukiyo-e ent...
About the Artist
Torii Kiyonaga · 1752–1815
Torii Kiyonaga, born Sekiguchi Shinsuke in 1752 in Uraga, Sagami Province, was the son of an Edo bookseller who owned tenements near a bustling fish market. At age 14 in 1765, he began his apprenticeship under Torii Kiyomitsu, the third-generation head of the prestigious Torii school of ukiyo-e, renowned for kabuki theater illustrations and signage. Adopted into the Torii family, Kiyonaga succeede...