Eastern Art Online, Yousef Jameel Centre for Islamic and Asian Art

Ashmolean − Eastern Art Online, Yousef Jameel Centre for Islamic and Asian Art

Yakusha-e: Kabuki Prints, a Continuing Tradition

(from 29th Nov 2011 until 4th Mar 2012)

Discover the brightly coloured woodblock prints of actors from Japanese popular theatre.

Detail of The actor Nakamura Shikan IV as the fisherman Fukashichi, Tōkyō, 1869 (Museum No: EA1971.2
Nakamura Ganjirō III as Kamiya Jiheifront

© Tsuruya Kōkei

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Nakamura Ganjirō III as Kamiya Jihei

  • Description

    ‘Love Suicides at Amijima’ is one of the most famous ‘domestic plays’ (sewamono) of the kabuki theatre. One of the three main categories of kabuki play, sewamono portray in relatively realistic fashion the life of the ordinary people of the Edo period (1600-1868).

    This print depicts the protagonist of play, the paper merchant Jihei. Although Jihei has a devoted wife and children, he falls in love with Koharu, a courtesan from the Yoshiwara pleasure quarters. In this scene Jihei sits at home pretending to sleep, but his eyes are full of tears thinking about his lover.

  • Details

    show all
    Series
    Bust Portraits XI
    Associated place
    Asia › Japan (place of creation)
    Date
    1996
    Artist/maker
    Tsuruya Kōkei (born 1946) (designer)
    Associated people
    Nakamura Ganjirō III (born 1931) (subject)
    Material and technique
    woodblock on Tosa ganpi paper
    Dimensions
    print 37.3 x 22.2 cm (height x width)
    Material index
    processed material › paper
    Technique index
    printed › relief print › woodcut › colour woodcut
    Object type index
    visual representation › print
    No. of items
    1
    Credit line
    Presented by Philip Harris, 2011.
    Accession no.
    EA2011.3

Glossary

Yoshiwara

  • Yoshiwara

    The Yoshiwara was the licensed pleasure district in Edo (Tokyo), where courtesans resided.

Past Exhibition

see (1)

Location

    • currently in research collection

Objects are sometimes moved to a different location. Our object location data is usually updated on a monthly basis. Contact the Jameel Study Centre if you are planning to visit the museum to see a particular object on display, or would like to arrange an appointment to see an object in our reserve collections.

 

Notice

Objects from past exhibitions may have now returned to our stores or a lender. Click into an individual object record to confirm whether or not an object is currently on display. Our object location data is usually updated on a monthly basis, so please contact the Jameel Study Centre if you are planning to visit the museum to see a particular Eastern Art object.

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