The actor Nakamura Utaemon IV as the fisherman Fukashichi, actually Kanawa Goro Imakuni (Ryoshi Fukashichi jitsu wa Kanawa Goro Imakuni)
- Date:
- c. 1847/52
- Medium:
- Color woodblock print; oban
- Source:
- Art Institute of Chicago
The actor Nakamura Utaemon IV as the fisherman Fukashichi, actually Kanawa Goro Imakuni (Ryoshi Fukashichi jitsu wa Kanawa Goro Imakuni), recorded by the Art Institute of Chicago with a date of 1842, is a Utagawa Toyokuni yakusha-e portrait built around the classic device of jitsu wa, in which a humble character is revealed as a noble or heroic figure in disguise. Nakamura Utaemon IV, a major actor of the Kamigata-Edo network, takes the role of the fisherman Fukashichi, who is in truth Kanawa Goro Imakuni, a figure from a play in the Imoseyama / classical revenge tradition. Toyokuni's design uses the actor's pose, the fisherman's tools and costume, and the actor's family crest to layer the character's two identities into a single image. As Edo ukiyo-e, the print depends on a sophisticated audience that could read the jitsu wa convention immediately and enjoy the slippage between humble appearance and aristocratic substance. The Art Institute of Chicago records the sheet within the Toyokuni school holdings, where it sits alongside other actor prints from the 1840s that pushed the Utagawa style toward ever more concentrated, full-face actor portraits. The work demonstrates how yakusha-e under the Utagawa name continued to evolve well into the nineteenth century, with Utagawa Toyokuni's design vocabulary providing the foundation for portraits of stars such as Utaemon IV in their most iconic roles.
early 1830s
Color woodblock print; shikishiban, surimono
1796
Woodblock print (nishiki-e), ink and color on paper
1769–1825
Woodblock print; ink and color on paper
The actor Nakamura Utaemon IV as the fisherman Fukashichi, actually Kanawa Goro Imakuni (Ryoshi Fukashichi jitsu wa Kanawa Goro Imakuni) was created by Utagawa Toyokuni I (歌川豊国) in c. 1847/52.
The actor Nakamura Utaemon IV as the fisherman Fukashichi, actually Kanawa Goro Imakuni (Ryoshi Fukashichi jitsu wa Kanawa Goro Imakuni) depicts fish.
