Hanga
The Actor Iwai Hanshiro IV as Okumi of the Mieido Fan Shop (?) in the Play Sanjuk-koku Yobune no Hajimari (?), Performed at the Ichimura Theater (?) in the Fifth Month, 1789 (?) by Katsukawa Shun'ei — Japanese Color woodblock print; hosoban, c. 1789

The Actor Iwai Hanshiro IV as Okumi of the Mieido Fan Shop (?) in the Play Sanjuk-koku Yobune no Hajimari (?), Performed at the Ichimura Theater (?) in the Fifth Month, 1789 (?)

by Katsukawa Shun'ei

Ukiyo-e
Date:
c. 1789
Medium:
Color woodblock print; hosoban

Description

This hosoban print in the Art Institute of Chicago, dated to about 1789, shows Iwai Hanshirō IV in the role of Okumi, a shop girl from the Mieidō fan shop, in the fifth-month Ichimura Theater production of Sanjuk-koku Yobune no Hajimari. Roles set in the contemporary world of Edo merchants and townspeople — the so-called sewa-mono plays — offered onnagata the chance to render finely observed, often emotionally fraught domestic situations, and Okumi is the kind of plebeian female figure whose tragedy or romance could carry an entire production. Shun'ei depicts Hanshirō with the slightly elongated facial features that distinguish this actor's particular nigao-e treatment, the figure positioned with the casual grace appropriate to a shop girl rather than a court lady. The print is also notable as a record of a specific shop name — the Mieidō was an actual Edo fan shop, and its appearance in a kabuki plot reflects the play's grounding in recognizable urban geography.

More Prints by Katsukawa Shun'ei

Actor Sawamura Sôjûrô III as Oda Kazusanosuke Harunaga in “Muromacho Chronicle in Kana Script” (“Kanagaki Muromachi bundan”) by Katsukawa Shun'ei

Actor Sawamura Sôjûrô III as Oda Kazusanosuke Harunaga in “Muromacho Chronicle in Kana Script” (“Kanagaki Muromachi bundan”)

About 1791

Color woodblock print; hosoban triptych

Act Four: Enya Hangan's Castle from the play Chushingura (Treasury of the Forty-seven Loyal Retainers) by Katsukawa Shun'ei

Act Four: Enya Hangan's Castle from the play Chushingura (Treasury of the Forty-seven Loyal Retainers)

c. 1795

Color woodblock print; koban

The Actor Segawa Tomisaburo II in an Unidentified Role by Katsukawa Shun'ei

The Actor Segawa Tomisaburo II in an Unidentified Role

c. 1793

Color woodblock print; hosoban; from a multisheet composition (?)

The Actor Yamashita Kinsaku II as the maid Tsumagi in the play "Otokyama O-Edo no Ishizue," performed at the Kiri Theater in the eleventh month, 1794 by Katsukawa Shun'ei

The Actor Yamashita Kinsaku II as the maid Tsumagi in the play "Otokyama O-Edo no Ishizue," performed at the Kiri Theater in the eleventh month, 1794

c. 1794

Color woodblock print; hosoban

Frequently Asked Questions

The Actor Iwai Hanshiro IV as Okumi of the Mieido Fan Shop (?) in the Play Sanjuk-koku Yobune no Hajimari (?), Performed at the Ichimura Theater (?) in the Fifth Month, 1789 (?) was created by Katsukawa Shun'ei (勝川春英) in c. 1789.