The Actor Matsumoto Koshiro IV as Sukeroku in the Play Sukeroku Yukari no Edo-zakura, Performed at the Ichimura Theater in the Sixth Month, 1782
- Date:
- c. 1782
- Medium:
- Color woodblock print; hosoban
- Source:
- Art Institute of Chicago
Held by the Art Institute of Chicago and dated to about 1782, this Katsukawa Shunjō [hosoban](/glossary/hosoban) print depicts the actor Matsumoto Kōshirō IV as Sukeroku in Sukeroku Yukari no Edo-zakura (Sukeroku: Flower of Edo), performed at the Ichimura Theater in the sixth month of 1782. Sukeroku is one of the canonical aragoto (rough-style) roles of the Edo kabuki repertoire — a swaggering Edo dandy who haunts the Yoshiwara pleasure district while secretly searching for his murdered father's stolen sword — and the play is one of the eighteen plays comprising the Kabuki Jūhachiban, the canonical repertoire of the Ichikawa Danjūrō acting line. The role is traditionally associated with the Danjūrō line, but other major tachiyaku (male-role specialists) of the period periodically performed it as well, and this 1782 Ichimura-za production gave the role to Matsumoto Kōshirō IV (1737–1802), one of the leading actors of the Tenmei era. Sukeroku is identified visually by his signature costume: a deep purple headband (hachimaki), a black silk kimono, and the distinctive janome umbrella that he carries through the play. Shunjō's design captures the actor in this iconic costume, following the standard Katsukawa-school hosoban format: a single full-figure actor in role-specific dress, identified by likeness and mon (family crest), with the play title, role, theater, and performance month recorded in cartouche. The print belongs to the substantial Katsukawa-school documentation of Tenmei-era kabuki productions and contributes to the broader corpus of visual records of the Sukeroku role across the eighteenth century.
c. 1783
Color woodblock print; hosoban
c. 1786
Color woodblock print; hosoban
c. 1780
Color woodblock print; hosoban
c. 1781
Color woodblock print; hosoban; left sheet of diptych (?)
The Actor Matsumoto Koshiro IV as Sukeroku in the Play Sukeroku Yukari no Edo-zakura, Performed at the Ichimura Theater in the Sixth Month, 1782 was created by Katsukawa Shunjō (勝川春常) in c. 1782.
The Actor Matsumoto Koshiro IV as Sukeroku in the Play Sukeroku Yukari no Edo-zakura, Performed at the Ichimura Theater in the Sixth Month, 1782 depicts sumo.
