Arashi Rikan II as Kizu Kansuke and Nakayama Bunshichi III as Hayashi Sanzemon from the Kabuki Play "Eight Views of the Kizu River by Boating Song" (1829): Art, History and Details

Arashi Rikan II as Kizu Kansuke and Nakayama Bunshichi III as Hayashi Sanzemon from the Kabuki Play "Eight Views of the Kizu River by Boating Song" (1829) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Shunshosai Hokuchō (Japanese, active 1822–1830).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

Three prints form a continuous scene from a Kabuki play written in 1778 by Namiki Gohei I (1747–1808) and produced at the Kado Theater in Osaka in the summer of 1829. It was the final performance for actor Ichikawa Ebijūrō II (1806–1829; right)—highly regarded for portraying villains—because he got sick and died several months later. This design belongs to a category of Japanese prints called “actor images” (yakusha-e or 役者絵). They were collected by fans of popular Kabuki actors. Kabuki is a kind of entertainment that got its start in the early Edo period, evolving from dance performances with simple storylines to long plays with complex plots, elaborate sets, and full musical accompaniments. Performers wear showy costumes and heavy makeup and strike poses called mie at critical moments in the narrative. Dialogue is spoken in a stylized way that resembles singing.

Object facts

• Title: Arashi Rikan II as Kizu Kansuke and Nakayama Bunshichi III as Hayashi Sanzemon from the Kabuki Play "Eight Views of the Kizu River by Boating Song"
• Date: 1829
• Creator attribution: Shunshosai Hokuchō (Japanese, active 1822–1830)
• Culture: Japan, Edo period (1615–1868)
• Type: Print
• Technique: Center print from a triptych of color woodblock prints
• Dimensions: 36.2 x 76 cm (14 1/4 x 29 15/16 in.)
• Collection: Japanese Art
• Department: Japanese Art
• Accession number: 1976.62.b

Collection credit

Edward L. Whittemore Fund

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.