Kabuki Stage with a Curtain Lifting to Reveal Three Kabuki Actors Artist: Utagawa Toyokuni I (Japanese, 1769–1825)

1822 (Year of the Horse)

Asian Art

By appointment, Duffy Study Room

初代歌川豊国　歌舞伎座　江戸時代


This innovative print represents the interior of the Ichimura Theater in Edo (present-day Tokyo), in commemoration of a play performed there in 1823. A literal “curtain”—the pale blue color—sets the stage. When pulled up, the curtain reveals a scene of the three actors in the play Three Famed Warriors Crossing Paths as they meet on a road outside a teahouse. They are not depicted in character, however, as they would be dressed as a murderous highwayman, a great warrior, and a beautiful noblewoman. Instead, they all appear in casual attire. Seki Sanjūrō II stands to the left, near the bamboo fence, catching sight of Onoe Kikugorō V, who eyes him worriedly at center. Ichikawa Danjūrō VII, in turn, looks up at them from his seat on the bench.

Medium

Surimono, shikishiban; polychrome woodblock print with brass and silver pigment, burnishing, and gauffrage

Dimensions

sheet: 7 1/2 × 8 1/16 in. (19 × 20.5 cm)

Credit Line

Promised gift of Virginia Shawan Drosten and Patrick Kenadjian, B.A. 1970

Loan number

ILE2017.30.61

Geography

Japan

Culture

Japanese

Period

Edo period (1615–1868)

Classification

Prints

Disclaimer

Note: This electronic record was created from historic documentation that does not necessarily reflect the Yale University Art Gallery’s complete or current knowledge about the object. Review and updating of records is ongoing.

Provenance
Joan B. Mirviss (dealer), New York; sold to Virginia Shawan Drosten and Patrick Kenadjian, Koenigstein im Taunus, Germany, October 20, 2003 (on loan to the Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Conn., 2017–present)
Bibliography
  • Sadako Ohki and Adam Haliburton, The Private World of Surimono: Japanese Prints from the Virginia Shawan Drosten and Patrick Kenadjian Collection (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Art Gallery, 2020), 213–15, no. 59, ill
Object copyright
No Copyright - United States
Additional information

Object/Work type

color woodcuts, surimono

Inscriptions

murasaki no\r\nkasumi no maku no\r\nakesomete\r\nkao mo moyuniishi\r\nume no hanagata\r\n\r\nEdo no Hananari\r\n\r\n[corrected 10-7-19 SO]\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nAs the purple\r\ncurtains of mist begin to part\r\nunder the dawn sky,\r\ntheir faces display [renewed youth] Need to change!,\r\nthese 'plum' stars of the stage.\r\n\r\nJohn Carpenter in Reading Surimono, p.66.\r\n紫能　可すミのまくの　明楚めて　可ほも茂ゆにし　梅能花形\r\n\r\n柳桜亭 \r\n江戸廼花成\r\n\r\n文政五年　壬午年\r\n\r\n\r\nTranscribed by Adam Haliburton 11/16/2017\r\n\r\n*「茂ゆにし」（燃ゆにし）　SO 11/17/17 Yes, 2-20-2018 SO\r\n**Is this confirmed? Ｙｅｓ，　２－２２－２０１８\r\n\r\nThe poet name should read 柳桜亭, but the first character is strange. AH 2/22/2018\r\nIt is OK to have "tree" radical at top and the rest at bottom. SO 2-22-18

Signed

Toyokuni ga
豊国画

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