Artwork
二代目市川八百藏・二代目中島三甫右衛門・三代目市川海老藏・九代目市村羽左衛門|Kabuki Actors Ichikawa Yaozō II, Nakajima Mihoemon II, Ichikawa Ebizō III, and Ichimura Uzaemon IX in the Play Sugawara’s Secrets of Calligraphy (Sugawara denju tenarai kagami)
二代目市川八百藏・二代目中島三甫右衛門・三代目市川海老藏・九代目市村羽左衛門|Kabuki Actors Ichikawa Yaozō II, Nakajima Mihoemon II, Ichikawa Ebizō III, and Ichimura Uzaemon IX in the Play Sugawara’s Secrets of Calligraphy (Sugawara denju tenarai kagami) is an ink print by the Romanticist artist Katsukawa Shunshō. It dates from 7 and is held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
About this work
Overview
Katsukawa Shunshō’s woodblock print presents a lively tableau from the kabuki drama Sugawara’s Secrets of Calligraphy. Executed as a three‑panel nishiki-e sheet, the work depicts four celebrated actors—Ichikawa Yaozō II, Nakajima Mihoemon II, Ichikawa Ebizō III, and Ichimura Uzaemon IX—engaged in a moment of heightened theatrical action.
Subject & Meaning
The composition captures a climactic episode: one figure brandishes a sword, another kneels while cradling a child, a third musician plucks a stringed instrument, and the fourth gestures emphatically with a fan. The arrangement suggests a narrative tension typical of kabuki, where martial prowess, familial concern, music, and dramatic flourish converge.
Technique & Style
Shunshō employs the characteristic bold black contours of ukiyo‑e, filling the actors with flat, saturated pigments that separate them from a bustling background of stylised trees, rooftops and swirling line work. Subtle cross‑hatching adds tonal depth to the costumes, while the triptych format allows a panoramic view of the stage’s energetic choreography.
History & Provenance
Created in the mid‑eighteenth century, the print is part of a series celebrating leading kabuki performers of the era. It entered the collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, where it is conserved as an example of the collaborative relationship between popular theatre and commercial printmaking in Edo‑period Japan.
Artist & collection
Artist
Katsukawa Shunshō spent his life in Edo (now Tokyo), where the city’s teahouses and theaters buzzed with energy.
