Arashi Rikan II as Miyamoto Musashi

This 1832 yakusha-e by Gigadō Ashiyuki, held by the Metropolitan Museum of Art (accession 2011.134), depicts Arashi Rikan II in the role of Miyamoto Musashi, the legendary early-seventeenth-century sword saint who in kabuki dramaturgy is portrayed as the unrivaled master of two-sword technique. Rikan II had succeeded to the Arashi stage name in 1828 and rapidly became one of the dominant tachiyaku (male leads) of the late-Bunsei Osaka stage, taking over a substantial portion of the roles previously associated with Nakamura Utaemon III after the latter's retirement. The Miyamoto Musashi role was a vehicle for warrior-gravitas performance and gave Rikan II material for one of his celebrated 1832 appearances, captured here by Ashiyuki near the close of his own documented career. The print measures approximately 37.5 by 26 centimeters as a vertical ōban nishiki-e (multi-color woodblock print). The Met's holding is one of a small cluster of late Ashiyuki prints that document the artist's final productive years before his signed work disappears around 1833. The pairing of Rikan II in the Musashi role with the V&A's roughly contemporary portrait of him as Mashiba Hisayoshi (28552:14) constitutes a useful paired record of the actor's mid-career interpretations, and Ashiyuki's portrait belongs to the broader Bunsei-era documentary tradition that anchored Osaka yakusha-e to specific productions and specific actor moments.