
The actor Ichimura Uzaemon XV as the gardener Kichigorô
- 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

Actor Ichikawa Danshirō II as Henmi Tesshinsai
1919
Woodblock print, ink and color on paper

Actor Matsumoto Kōshirō VII as Sukeroku
1920
Woodblock print, ink and color on paper with mica

After Yamamura, Toyonari
Woodblock print

Dancing at the New Carlton Café in Shanghai
1924
Woodblock print, ink and color on paper with mica
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.


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