
Actor Arashi Rikan as Chinzei Hachirō Tametomo
- Date:
- 1833
- Medium:
- Woodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper; vertical ōban
- Source:
- Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Description
This 1833 yakusha-e by Ryūsai Shigeharu, held by the Museum of Fine Arts Boston (accession 455806), depicts the actor Arashi Rikan II as the medieval warrior Chinzei Hachirō Tametomo. Minamoto no Tametomo (1139-1170) was the celebrated archer of the Genpei wars whose superhuman strength and exile to the Izu islands became the basis for Bakin's late novel Chinsetsu yumiharizuki (Strange Tales of the Crescent Moon, 1807-1811), and the kabuki adaptations of the early 1830s drew on the novel's most dramatic episodes to provide warrior-spectacle vehicles for the leading Osaka tachiyaku. Rikan II's interpretation of the Tametomo role in 1833 placed him in the lineage of Osaka stars who had taken the part. The print is preserved as a color woodblock print on paper in the vertical ōban format at the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, accessioned as part of the Bigelow-era kamigata-e holdings that constitute the museum's substantial Shigeharu collection. The image's late-1833 dating places it in the period of Shigeharu's continued single-sheet productivity following his 1829-1831 peak, and the choice of Tametomo as subject connects the print to the broader vogue for Bakin-derived warrior-narratives that drove kabuki repertoire choices through the early Tenpō period.
More Prints by Ryūsai Shigeharu

The Courtesan Miyo of the Izutsuya Brothel as a Tea Whisk Vendor, from the series Costume Parade of the Shimanouchi District in Osaka (Naniwa Shimanouchi nerimono, Hachitataki Izutsuya Miyo)
1828, sixth month
Woodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper

Actor as Kimon no Kihei
before 1826
Color woodblock print

Kabuki Actors Onoe Kikugorō III as Shizuka Gozen and Nakamura Utaemon III as Kitsune Tadanobu, in the play Yoshitsune senbon zakura (The Thousand Cherry Trees of Yoshitsune)
1830
Diptych of woodblock prints (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper; vertical ōban

Satomi ke Hakkenshi no hitori (One of the Eight Heroes of the Satomi Clan: Inumura Daikaku Surprised by a Female in His Hermitage)
c. 1830s
Color woodblock print
Frequently Asked Questions
Actor Arashi Rikan as Chinzei Hachirō Tametomo was created by Ryūsai Shigeharu (柳斎重春) in 1833.