Ichikawa Kadanji IV plays the vengeful ghost of Sakura Sogoro — the martyred village headman who sacrificed himself to present a petition to the shogun on behalf of his starving village and was executed along with his family. Sogoro's ghost became one of kabuki's most powerful supernatural presences, a figure of righteous indignation haunting the officials who condemned him. Kuniyoshi renders the ghost in the visual idiom of yurei apparitions — pale, disheveled, surrounded by cherry-blossom snow — with Kadanji's features recognizable beneath the supernatural markings.
Kumoi sakura
1926
Color woodblock print
1935
Color woodblock print
Romon
1935
Color woodblock print
円山公園桜
Woodblock print
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
Ichikawa Kadanji IV as the ghost of Sakura Sogoro was created by Utagawa Kuniyoshi (歌川国芳).
Ichikawa Kadanji IV as the ghost of Sakura Sogoro depicts cherry blossoms, kabuki, and mythology.