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The Actor Nakamura Nakazō II as Matsuōmaru

1796
Not on view
Returned to lender
This work of art was on loan to the museum and has since been returned to its lender.
In this dramatic composition, the whitened face of the actor Nakamura Nakazō II (1759–1796) with bold red stripes of make-up fills a large part of the compositional space. His costume’s abstract patterning contributes to the powerful effect. Nakazō’s crossed eyes indicate a climactic moment in the Kabuki drama, when the actor knots his energy and movements into a frozen pose called a mie. Over his shoulder he wields a white umbrella that becomes a crucial prop in the “carriage-stopping” episode of the iconic play Sugawara and the Secrets of Calligraphy (Sugawara denju tenarai kagami). This print and the one next to it (Dirks.177) commemorate a performance held in the seventh month of 1796 at the Miyako theater in Edo.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • 歌川国政画　二代目中村仲蔵の松王丸
  • Title: The Actor Nakamura Nakazō II as Matsuōmaru
  • Artist: Utagawa Kunimasa (Japanese, 1773–1810)
  • Period: Edo period (1615–1868)
  • Date: 1796
  • Culture: Japan
  • Medium: Woodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper; vertical ōban
  • Dimensions: Image: 15 3/8 × 10 1/4 in. (39.1 × 26 cm)
    Frame: 21 1/4 × 15 15/16 in. (54 × 40.5 cm)
  • Classification: Prints
  • Credit Line: Lent by Lee E. Dirks
  • Curatorial Department: Asian Art