Memorial Portrait of the Actor Ichikawa Ōmezō I

The celebrated Kabuki actor Ichikawa Ōmezō (1781–1833) is shown in a formal kneeling pose, dressed in a persimmon brown kamishimo (ceremonial kimono) over a black robe and blue/gray under-robes. His penetrating eyes and distinctive hook nose were features also captured by print artists throughout his career. His hands rest on his knees, with one clasping a folding fan, a symbol of an entertainer’s profession. A ceremonial sword, probably made of wood (bokutō)—suggesting a certain level of posthumous social status above that of “outcast” (hinin) usually accorded actors—is tucked into his sash. The mimasu (triple rice-measuring box) crest used by the Ichikawa family of actors appears on his shoulders and sleeves.

Omezō specialized in leading man (tachiyaku) roles and flourished from the end of the eighteenth century. He was the son of Ichikawa Monnosuke II (1743–1794) and was trained by Ichikawa Danjūrō V, the leading actor of his generation. The peak of his early career was captured in marvelous prints by Sharaku and Toyokuni I (figs. 2 and 3), and Kunisada created prints of his final years. He remained active on the stage until his retirement in 1824, when he took the name Ichikawa Benzō, and died in Edo in the sixth lunar month of 1833. He was also known by the name Ichikawa Sōdai, as referred to in the inscription.

Kunisada was famous for his woodblock prints showing Kabuki actors in roles, and was one of the most successful and prolific artists of the nineteenth century. He was also a highly skilled painter, and his deluxe paintings of female beauties on silk were highly prized by well-heeled clients. Less well known are his painted portraits of actors dressed in formal wear, as here, which were made for funerary or memorial ceremonies. Since Kunisada worked closely with actors and theater managers, we can assume that he was commissioned long in advance to create such memorial portraits and probably had a work already prepared when needed. In the case of this painting, the signature style is actually closer to that the artist used in from around 1828, so perhaps the painting was created in anticipation of the actor’s death, and mounted long in advance.

In 1858, long after the painting was created—probably for the occasion of the memorial service for Ōmezo’s twenty-seventh death anniversary—an inscription was added by Ichikawa Danjūrō VII (Ebizō V), certainly the most prominent Kabuki actor of his generation. Danjūrō himself died late in the third month of 1859, soon after the inscription was added. As Danjūrō VII remarks in his inscription, Omezō recognized the younger actor’s talents early and encouraged the boy when he inherited his illustrious name in 1807 following the death of his grandfather Danjūrō V the year before. The inscription can be translated:



From the time of my youth, until I became a serious actor, I knew the joys of the path of acting in the Ichikawa lineage, and never lost enthusiasm for the aragoto style, and the acting methods that should last forever.



For a long while,

he made it his duty

to lend me support from

the depths of his heart —

Ichikawa Sōdai.

The celebrated Kabuki actor Ichikawa Ōmezō (1781–1833) is shown in a formal kneeling pose, dressed in a persimmon brown kamishimo (ceremonial kimono) over a black robe and blue/gray under-robes. His penetrating eyes and distinctive hook nose were features also captured by print artists throughout his career. His hands rest on his knees, with one clasping a folding fan, a symbol of an entertainer’s profession. A ceremonial sword, probably made of wood (bokutō)—suggesting a certain level of posthumous social status above that of “outcast” (hinin) usually accorded actors—is tucked into his sash. The mimasu (triple rice-measuring box) crest used by the Ichikawa family of actors appears on his shoulders and sleeves.

Omezō specialized in leading man (tachiyaku) roles and flourished from the end of the eighteenth century. He was the son of Ichikawa Monnosuke II (1743–1794) and was trained by Ichikawa Danjūrō V, the leading actor of his generation. The peak of his early career was captured in marvelous prints by Sharaku and Toyokuni I (figs. 2 and 3), and Kunisada created prints of his final years. He remained active on the stage until his retirement in 1824, when he took the name Ichikawa Benzō, and died in Edo in the sixth lunar month of 1833. He was also known by the name Ichikawa Sōdai, as referred to in the inscription.

Kunisada was famous for his woodblock prints showing Kabuki actors in roles, and was one of the most successful and prolific artists of the nineteenth century. He was also a highly skilled painter, and his deluxe paintings of female beauties on silk were highly prized by well-heeled clients. Less well known are his painted portraits of actors dressed in formal wear, as here, which were made for funerary or memorial ceremonies. Since Kunisada worked closely with actors and theater managers, we can assume that he was commissioned long in advance to create such memorial portraits and probably had a work already prepared when needed. In the case of this painting, the signature style is actually closer to that the artist used in from around 1828, so perhaps the painting was created in anticipation of the actor’s death, and mounted long in advance.

In 1858, long after the painting was created—probably for the occasion of the memorial service for Ōmezo’s twenty-seventh death anniversary—an inscription was added by Ichikawa Danjūrō VII (Ebizō V), certainly the most prominent Kabuki actor of his generation. Danjūrō himself died late in the third month of 1859, soon after the inscription was added. As Danjūrō VII remarks in his inscription, Omezō recognized the younger actor’s talents early and encouraged the boy when he inherited his illustrious name in 1807 following the death of his grandfather Danjūrō V the year before. The inscription can be translated:

From the time of my youth, until I became a serious actor, I knew the joys of the path of acting in the Ichikawa lineage, and never lost enthusiasm for the aragoto style, and the acting methods that should last forever.

For a long while,
he made it his duty
to lend me support from
the depths of his heart —
Ichikawa Sōdai.

Inscription by Ichikawa Danjūrō VII:

おのれがをさなきよりまめ／＼しくひとゝなるまて
わさをきのみち市川流の荒事を失はす心を添つる嬉しさ
流儀の門には長たるへし

しはらくを　勤るわれを　ひきたてし
ふかきこゝろの　市川惣代

Onore ga osanaki yori mamemameshiku hito to naru made
wasaogi no michi Ichikawa ryū no aragoto o ushinawazu kokoro o soetsuru ureshisa
ryūgi no mon ni wa osataru beshi

Shibaraku o / tsutomuru ware o / hikitateshi / fukaki kokoro no / Ichikawa Sōdai

From the time of my youth, until I became a serious actor, I knew the joys of the path of acting in the Ichikawa lineage, and never lost enthusiasm for the aragoto style, and the acting methods that should last forever.

For a long while,
he made it his duty
to lend me support from
the depths of his heart —
Ichikawa Sōdai.

Ichikawa shichidaime saki no Danjūrō
rokujūhachi no yowai Jukai rōjin kobukusha Hakuen

市川七代目前團十郎
六十八齢寿海老人子福者白猿

The inscription is accompanied by the writer’s signature and seals:

Ichikawa Hakuen, formerly Danjūrō VII,
old man Jukai father of many, at the age of sixty-eight

Kanbōin [prefatory seal to the right of inscription]:

Tōi nanban hokuteki seijū shii hakkō tenchi kenkon sono aida
東夷南蛮北狄西戎四夷八荒天地乾坤其間
(Among all nations of the four peoples, east, south, north and west, and in heaven and earth)

NB. This phrase is from the opening of the famous tsurane of “Shibaraku” (Stop Right There!), shouted from the hanamichi by generations of Danjūrō and other Ichikawa actors over the centuries, so it is appropriate to use here for an inscription connecting three generations of Ichikawa actors.

Gourd shaped seal:
Jukai rōjin kobukusha 寿海老人子福者 (Old man Jukai, father of many)

—John T. Carpenter (July 9, 2021)

Signature: Artist’s signature: (lower right) Kōchōrō Kunisada ga 香蝶楼国貞画; artist’s seal: Hanabusa Ittai 英一僀

Inscription signature: Ichikawa shichidaime mae Danjūrō rokujūhachi yowai Jukai rōjin shifukusha Hakuen 市川七代目前團十郎六十八齢寿海老人子福者白猿 (Ichikawa Hakuen, formerly Danjūrō VII, old man Jukai father of many, at the age of sixty-eight)

Inscription seals: kanbōin (prefatory seal, upper right): Tōi namban hokuteki seijū shihakō tenchi kenkon 󠄀sono aida 東夷南蛮北狄西戎四夷八荒天地乾坤其間 (The greatest actor of the north, south, east, west, heaven, and earth); (left of inscription) Jukai rōjin shifukusha 寿海老人子福者 (Old man Jukai, father of many)

Inscription: Inscription by Ichikawa Danjūrō VII:

おのれがをさなきよりまめ／＼しくひとゝなるまて
わさをきのみち市川流の荒事を失はす心を添つる嬉しさ
流儀の門には長たるへし

しはらくを　勤るわれを　ひきたてし
ふかきこゝろの　市川惣代

Onore ga osanaki yori mamemameshiku hito to naru made
wasaogi no michi Ichikawa ryū no aragoto o ushinawazu kokoro o soetsuru ureshisa
ryūgi no mon ni wa osataru beshi

Shibaraku o / tsutomuru ware o / hikitateshi / fukaki kokoro no / Ichikawa Sōdai

From the time of my youth, until I became a serious actor, I knew the joys of the path of acting in the Ichikawa lineage, and never lost enthusiasm for the aragoto style, and the acting methods that should last forever.

For a long while,
he made it his duty
to lend me support from
the depths of his heart —
Ichikawa Sōdai.

Ichikawa shichidaime saki no Danjūrō
rokujūhachi no yowai Jukai rōjin kobukusha Hakuen

市川七代目前團十郎
六十八齢寿海老人子福者白猿

The inscription is accompanied by the writer’s signature and seals:

Ichikawa Hakuen, formerly Danjūrō VII,
old man Jukai father of many, at the age of sixty-eight

Kanbōin [prefatory seal to the right of inscription]:

Tōi nanban hokuteki seijū shii hakkō tenchi kenkon sono aida
東夷南蛮北狄西戎四夷八荒天地乾坤其間
(Among all nations of the four peoples, east, south, north and west, and in heaven and earth)

NB. This phrase is from the opening of the famous tsurane of “Shibaraku” (Stop Right There!), shouted from the hanamichi by generations of Danjūrō and other Ichikawa actors over the centuries, so it is appropriate to use here for an inscription connecting three generations of Ichikawa actors.

Gourd shaped seal:
Jukai rōjin kobukusha 寿海老人子福者 (Old man Jukai, father of many)

[ Sakamoto Yūhei , Tokyo, 2018; acquired at Japanese dealers auction; sold to Izzard]; [ Sebastian Izzard LLC , New York, 2018–2021; sold to MMA]

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Japan: A History of Style," March 8, 2021–April 24, 2022.