Untitled

Katsukawa Shunshō　勝川春章

1780 · Tetraptych of woodblock prints (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper · Asian Art

Famous actors, dressed as chivalrous commoners, stand before the entrance to the Chōjiya and O-miya houses in the Yoshiwara pleasure district. Danjūrō V is second from the right. Chivalrous commoners, who were fearless street toughs, protected ordinary people from lawless hatamoto samurai. Shunshō presented them in identical green kimonos with the emblem of each particular role along the hem and with the actor's family crest below the shoulder. The design motifs on Danjūrō V's costume are the character sen under crossed hammers and the family crest of three nested squares (mimasu).

Artist

Katsukawa Shunshō　勝川春章

Date

1780

Medium

Tetraptych of woodblock prints (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper

Culture

Japan

Department

Asian Art

Credit line

Purchase, Joseph Pulitzer Bequest, 1918