Japanese Print "Actor Ichikawa Kodanji IV as Torii Matasuke" by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi
Artist:Tsukioka Yoshitoshi
Title:Actor Ichikawa Kodanji IV as Torii Matasuke
Date:3rd month 1860
Details:More information...
Source:Worcester Art Museum
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Description:
Kabuki actors enjoyed celebrity status during the Edo period (1603–1868), and their portraits constituted a primary subject of Japanese woodblock printing throughout its long history. The publication of this print was timed to coincide with the performance of its subject, On Mirror Mountain: Iwafuji at a Later Date, which opened at the Ichimura theater that same month. The faithful servant Matasuke was involved in a plot to kill his lord’s scheming mistress, though in a twist typical of kabuki plays, mistakenly murders the lord’s wife instead. Eyes crossed in a conventional gesture of extreme concentration, Matasuke stands in a bamboo thicket, intensely peering through the pouring rain to secure his target.
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