The Actor Nakamura Utaemon IV as the Wrestler Iwakawa Jirokichi

1837

Not on view

The flamboyantly garbed sumo wrestler, played by the famous Utaemon IV, is drawn from a scene of the Kabuki play The Rise of the One Thousand Ryō Wrestler (Sekitori senryō nobori). Yet the character was not competing in a normal sumo match, but rather one held by patrons of two rival wrestlers, each of whom hoped to raise enough money to ransom a courtesan from an Osaka brothel.

Artwork Details

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四代目中村歌右衛門　「関取千両幟」
Title: The Actor Nakamura Utaemon IV as the Wrestler Iwakawa Jirokichi
Artist: Shunbaisai Hokuei 春梅斎北英 (Japanese, active 1829–1837, died 1837)
Period: Edo period (1615–1868)
Date: 1837
Culture: Japan
Medium: Woodblock print; ink and color on paper; vertical ōban
Dimensions: Image: 15 1/4 × 10 in. (38.7 × 25.4 cm)
Classification: Prints
Credit Line: Purchase, Friends of Asian Art Gifts, in honor of James C. Y. Watt, 2011
Object Number: 2011.139
Curatorial Department: Asian Art

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By Shunbaisai Hokuei 春梅斎北英

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Album of Twenty Half-Length Portraits of Actors in Roles, Shunbaisai Hokuei 春梅斎北英 Japanese, Folding album; ink and color on paper, Japan — Album of Twenty Half-Length Portraits of Actors in Roles
Shunbaisai Hokuei 春梅斎北英
1830s

Kabuki Actor Arashi Rikan II as Iemon Confronted by an Image of His Murdered Wife, Oiwa, on a Broken Lantern, Referring to Katsushika Hokusai’s Hyaku monogatari (One Hundred Ghost Stories), Shunbaisai Hokuei 春梅斎北英 Japanese, Woodblock print; ink and color on paper, Japan — Kabuki Actor Arashi Rikan II as Iemon Confronted by an Image of His Murdered Wife, Oiwa, on a Broken Lantern, Referring to Katsushika Hokusai’s Hyaku monogatari (One Hundred Ghost Stories)
Shunbaisai Hokuei 春梅斎北英
1832

Three Heroes of the Water Margin Capture the Bandit Queen Ichijōsei, from the series One Hundred Eight Heroes of the Theater Suikoden, Shunbaisai Hokuei 春梅斎北英 Japanese, Tetraptych of woodblock prints (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper; vertical ōban, Japan — Three Heroes of the Water Margin Capture the Bandit Queen Ichijōsei, from the series One Hundred Eight Heroes of the Theater Suikoden
Shunbaisai Hokuei 春梅斎北英
ca. 1835

The Courtesan Emu of the Matsuya Brothel as a Cormorant Fisherwoman (Ukai Matsuya Emu), from the series “A Costume Parade in the Shimanouchi District” (Shimanouchi nerimono), Shunbaisai Hokuei 春梅斎北英 Japanese, Woodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper; vertical ōban, Japan — The Courtesan Emu of the Matsuya Brothel as a Cormorant Fisherwoman (Ukai Matsuya Emu), from the series “A Costume Parade in the Shimanouchi District” (Shimanouchi nerimono)
Shunbaisai Hokuei 春梅斎北英
1836

Kabuki Actor Arashi Rikan II as Akogi Heiji, from the print series Tōsei keshōkagami (Makeup Mirrors of Our Time), Shunbaisai Hokuei 春梅斎北英 Japanese, Woodblock print; ink and color on paper, Japan — Kabuki Actor Arashi Rikan II as Akogi Heiji, from the print series Tōsei keshōkagami (Makeup Mirrors of Our Time)
Shunbaisai Hokuei 春梅斎北英
1835

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