Matsumoto Koshiro IV as Gorobei, the Fish Seller from Sanya (1794): Art, History and Details

Matsumoto Koshiro IV as Gorobei, the Fish Seller from Sanya (1794) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Tōshūsai Sharaku (Japanese, active 1794–95).

The work and its context

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

Sharaku portrayed the actor Matsumoto Koshiro IV in his role as the fish merchant Gorobei in the play A Medley of Tales of Revenge, performed at the Kiri Theater in June 1794. The actor specialized in the wagoto, or "gentle style," of acting. In the play, the fish merchant, whose business is located near the Yoshiwara, helps two courtesan sisters avenge their father’s murder. Sharaku created portraits for seven actors appearing in this play. During his ten-month career, Sharaku created about 150 designs for prints, including 28 bust portraits. Many of the portraits were printed with a gray mica background, a popular technique banned in 1794, the year Sharaku was active as a print designer. Censorship edicts restricted themes, sizes, and techniques used in the printing industry as an attempt to curtail the luxuries of the merchant class, patrons of prints. Although the lowest class in society, they had become the wealthiest class by the 18th century. In an effort to maintain a hierarchy, governmental edicts often regulated basic aspects of life.

Object facts

• Title: Matsumoto Koshiro IV as Gorobei, the Fish Seller from Sanya
• Date: 1794
• Creator attribution: Tōshūsai Sharaku (Japanese, active 1794–95)
• Culture: Japan, Edo period (1615–1868)
• Type: Print
• Technique: color woodblock print
• Dimensions: Sheet: 38.4 x 25.1 cm (15 1/8 x 9 7/8 in.)
• Collection: Japanese Art
• Department: Japanese Art
• Accession number: 1974.78

Collection credit

Gift of Jeptha H. Wade in honor of Emily V. Wade

Further reading listed by the museum

• Lee, Sherman E. “The Year in Review for 1974.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 62, no. 3 (March 1975): 62–102.
• The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978.

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.