Sanjo Kantaro II in the Role of Urashima Taro (early 1700s): Art, History and Details

Sanjo Kantaro II in the Role of Urashima Taro (early 1700s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Kaigetsudō Ando (Japanese, c. 1671–1743).

The work and its context

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

Sanjo Kantaro II was a Kabuki actor who specialized in playing youths (wakashu) and female roles (onnagata). He is shown here in the role of Urashima Taro. He rescues a tortoise, and as a reward, the tortoise carries him to the undersea palace of the Dragon King. He believes he has spent but three days there with the Dragon King's daughter; however, when he returns to the shore, he finds 300 years have passed. The actor holds a fishing pole, indicating his occupation as a fisherman. The upper portion of the painting contains a 31-syllable waka poem.

Object facts

• Title: Sanjo Kantaro II in the Role of Urashima Taro
• Date: early 1700s
• Creator attribution: Kaigetsudō Ando (Japanese, c. 1671–1743)
• Culture: Japan, Edo period (1615–1868)
• Type: Painting
• Technique: hanging scroll; ink and color on paper
• Dimensions: Painting only: 105.7 x 59.4 cm (41 5/8 x 23 3/8 in.); Including mounting: 189.2 x 64.7 cm (74 1/2 x 25 1/2 in.)
• Collection: ASIAN - Hanging scroll
• Department: Japanese Art
• Accession number: 1961.41

A detail from the museum

The hexagonal design on the actor's robe represents the patterning of a tortoise’s carapace.

Collection credit

Dudley P. Allen Fund and various donors, by exchange

Further reading listed by the museum

• Yoshida, Teruji 吉田暎二 . Ukiyo-e Taisei 浮世繪大成. Vol. 2Tōkyō: 東方書院, 1931.
• Lee, Sherman E. Japanese Decorative Style. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1961.
• The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966.

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.