
The actors Otani Tomoemon II (right) and Arashi Kitsusaburo II as Miura Matazo
- Date:
- 1825
- Medium:
- Color woodblock print
- Source:
- Art Institute of Chicago
Description
This 1825 Osaka kamigata-e yakusha-e by Gigadō Ashiyuki, held by the Art Institute of Chicago (accession 1925.3252) within the museum's Clarence Buckingham Collection, depicts the actors Ōtani Tomoemon II on the right and Arashi Kitsusaburō II as Miura Matazō. The double-portrait format places the two actors side by side in confrontation, each tightly framed in the vertical ōban format and each clearly identified by inscription, a documentary practice that anchored Osaka yakusha-e to the specific production captured in the design. Ōtani Tomoemon II was a touring Edo actor whose Osaka appearances gave Ashiyuki the chance to record cross-traffic between the two kabuki centers, while Arashi Kitsusaburō II was a leading Osaka tachiyaku building on the reputation of his father Kitsusaburō I. The print measures approximately 37.2 by 25.8 centimeters as a color woodblock print on paper, dimensions consistent with the standard ōban format Ashiyuki used throughout his career. The Art Institute of Chicago's Clarence Buckingham Collection is one of the major American holdings of Japanese woodblock prints, and the small cluster of Osaka kamigata-e within it provides a working sample of Bunsei-era yakusha-e alongside the better-known Edo materials. Ashiyuki's composition demonstrates the mature style he had developed by the mid-1820s: a confident half-length pairing, attention to facial expression as the carrier of character, and restrained color treatment in keeping with the Osaka preference for psychological intensity over Edo-style decorative spectacle.
More Prints by Gigadō Ashiyuki

Arashi Rikan II as Kizu Kansuke
1829
color woodblock print

The Actors Arashi Kitsusaburō II as the Hairdresser Kamiyui Tasuke, and Arashi Koroku IV as Gonza the Lancer (Yari no Gonza)
1824
Woodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper; vertical ōban

Ichikawa Ebijuro II as Ude no Jirobei
c. 1813-34
woodblock print

Kabuki Actor Arashi Kitsusaburō II as Kajiwara Heiji, in the play Hiragana seisuiki (Records of the Battles between the Minamoto and Taira Clans in the Japanese Syllabary)
1827
Woodblock print; ink and color on paper
Frequently Asked Questions
The actors Otani Tomoemon II (right) and Arashi Kitsusaburo II as Miura Matazo was created by Gigadō Ashiyuki (戯画堂芦幸) in 1825.