The Actor Sanogawa Ichimatsu I as Ushiwakamaru in the play "Kiichi Hogen Shinanguruma," performed at the Morita Theater in the eleventh month, 1754
Medium
Color woodblock print; left sheet of hosoban triptych, benizuri-e
Dimensions
31.8 × 15.8 cm (12 1/2 × 6 3/16 in.)
Classification
woodblock print
Department
Arts of Asia
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
88897
Art Historical Context
Step into the vibrant world of 18th-century Japanese theater Nishimura Shigenaga *The Actor Sanogawa Ichimatsu I as Ushiwamaru in the playKiichi Hogen Shinuruma,"* created in 1754. This woodblock print captures the kabuki actor Sanogawa Ichimatsu in the role of the youthful warrior Ushiwakamaru—better known as the legendary Minamoto no Yoshitsune—from a performance at the Morita Theater Edo (modern Tokyo). Shigenaga, a master of the ukiyo-e ("pictures of the floating world") tradition, specialized in yakusha-e, or actor prints, that immortalized the drama and glamour of kabuki stars for everyd...
About the Artist
Nishimura Shigenaga · 1690–1758
Nishimura Shigenaga (c. 1697–1756) was a pioneering Japanese ukiyo-e printmaker born in Edo (modern-day Tokyo), where he initially worked as a landlord in the Tōriabura-chō district before relocating to Kanda-Sakumachō to operate a bookshop. Self-taught with no known formal teacher, he immersed himself in art around 1719, drawing early inspiration from the Torii school's yakusha-e (actor portraits...