四代目中村歌右衛門　「関取千両幟」|The Actor Nakamura Utaemon IV as the Wrestler Iwakawa Jirokichi

Shunbaisai Hokuei 春梅斎北英

1837 · Woodblock print; ink and color on paper; vertical ōban · Asian Art

The flamboyantly garbed sumo wrestler, played by the famous Utaemon IV, is drawn from a scene of the Kabuki play The Rise of the One Thousand Ryō Wrestler (Sekitori senryō nobori). Yet the character was not competing in a normal sumo match, but rather one held by patrons of two rival wrestlers, each of whom hoped to raise enough money to ransom a courtesan from an Osaka brothel.

Artist

Shunbaisai Hokuei 春梅斎北英

Date

1837

Medium

Woodblock print; ink and color on paper; vertical ōban

Culture

Japan

Department

Asian Art

Credit line

Purchase, Friends of Asian Art Gifts, in honor of James C. Y. Watt, 2011