Hanga
The actor Ichimura Uzaemon XV as the gardener Kichigorô by Yamamura Toyonari — Japanese Mokuhanga (Japanese woodblock)

The actor Ichimura Uzaemon XV as the gardener Kichigorô

by Yamamura Toyonari

Medium:
Mokuhanga (Japanese woodblock)
Image courtesy of
Saru Gallery

Description

Yamamura portrays Ichimura Uzaemon XV (1874–1945), a prominent tachiyaku (specialist in male roles) of the Taisho and early Showa periods, in the role of the gardener Kichigorô. Gardener roles in kabuki typically dispense with elaborate court costume in favour of plain working clothes, which gives the carver and printer scope to concentrate on the actor's face and posture. The composition likely emphasises Uzaemon's distinctive features and the rugged commoner type the role demands, with Yamamura's characteristic hand-applied bokashi providing soft modeling on the cheek and jawline against a flat decorative ground. The print fits within Yamamura's effort to extend yakusha-e beyond conventional iconic poses into a more individuated mode of theatrical portraiture, treating kabuki actors as serious professional artists whose interior lives can be inferred from facial expression rather than from painted makeup alone. Editions of such prints were small, with collectors and theatre connoisseurs the intended audience.

More Prints by Yamamura Toyonari

More Theater Prints

Featured in Collections

Curated cross-cuts that include this print.

Frequently Asked Questions

The actor Ichimura Uzaemon XV as the gardener Kichigorô was created by Yamamura Toyonari (山村豊成).

The actor Ichimura Uzaemon XV as the gardener Kichigorô depicts theater.