Object data
nishikie, with tsuyazuri
height 200 mm × width 182 mm
Utagawa Toyokuni (I)
The Kabuki Actor Ichikawa Danjûrô IV
Japan, Japan, 1825
Provenance
…; purchased from the dealer Hotei Japanese Prints, Leiden, by J.H.W. Goslings (1943-2011), Epse, near Deventer, 1985;1 by whom donated to the museum, 1991
Object number: RP-P-1991-572
Credit line: Gift of J.H.W. Goslings, Epse
Copyright: Public domain
Context
For general notes on the series, see RP-P-1995-292.
The artist
Utagawa Toyokuni (1769-1825) was a pupil of Utagawa Toyoharu, who first aspired to a career as a designer of prints of beautiful women, bijinga, and then focused on the world of kabuki theatre. He was one of the very few 18th-century designers who enjoyed success well into the next century.
Entry
The Actor Ichikawa Danjuro IV as the tragic hero Kagekiyo, a dragon in the foreground.
Danjuro IV, known as Kiba, Approved by Sansho VII, Yondaime Kiba Danjuro - kiwame shichidaime Sansho, with seal: Yau, from un untitled series on The Danjuro Family Tradition of Kabuki Actors.
Ichikawa Danjuro IV (1711-78), the adopted son of Matsumoto Koshiro and the true son of Ichikawa Danjuro II, earlier acted under the names Matsumoto Shichizo and Matsumoto Koshiro II. He acted under the name Danjuro from XI/1754 to X/1770, when he reassumed the name Matsumoto Koshiro II, and later that of Ichikawa Ebizo III.
He first played the role of Kagekiyo - in which he is seen here - in XI/1745 in the play Chikyodai Izu nikki, staged at the Morita Theatre.2 One of his most successful performances in this role was in I/1767 in Hatsu akinai omise Soga, at the Nakamura Theatre in Edo.3 He seems to have preferred roles of nobles and lords, judging from the many of these that he performed.
The reprint edition with various modifications is in the collection of the National Museum of Ethnology, Leiden (1353-1447).
One poem by Shinratei Manzo [II, 1762-1831, earlier Shichichin Manpo].4
The poem reads:
Faraway things become nearer when the tip of the brush draws the face of the gang leader from Kiba
- Kiba being the Edo district where Danjuro lived.
Issued by the Danjuro Fan Club
Signature reading: the late, ko Toyokuni hitsu
Literature
M. Forrer, Surimono in the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, Leiden 2013, no. 521
Citation
M. Forrer, 2013, 'Utagawa (I) Toyokuni, The Kabuki Actor Ichikawa Danjûrô IV, Japan, 1825', in Surimono from the Goslings Collection in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.446722
(accessed 27 November 2024 05:50:05).