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
The Gang of Five Returning in the Morning Like Wild Geesefront

© Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

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The Gang of Five Returning in the Morning Like Wild Geese

  • Description

    The two prints in this diptych [see EA1983.69.b] were originally part of a pentaptych depicting five heavily-tattooed thieves, the leading characters in a play based on the exploits of a gang of real-life thieves in eighteenth-century Japan. The thieves were presented as heroic commoners who stood up to the powerful samurai on behalf of the people.

    The design of Kunichika’s pentaptych is modelled on a similar work created the previous year by Kunichika’s teacher, Kunisada. The figures and dress are almost identical; only the actors’ names and faces and the background are different.

  • Details

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    Series
    The Golden Gate and the Paulownia Crest
    Associated place
    Tōkyō (place of creation)
    Tōkyō (place of publication)
    Date
    1863
    Artist/maker
    Toyohara Kunichika (1835 - 1900) (designer)
    Horikō Shinchō (active c. 1863) (block cutter)
    Associated people
    Izutsuya Shōkichi (active c. 1849 - 1865) (publisher)
    Nakamura Shikan IV (1831 - 1899) (subject)
    Material and technique
    Nishiki-e, woodblock print with ink and colour
    Dimensions
    mount 55.4 x 40.2 cm (height x width)
    sheet 36.2 x 24.2 cm (height x width)
    Material index
    paper
    Technique index
    colour woodcut
    Object type index
    diptych print,
    pentaptych print
    No. of items
    1
    Credit line
    Presented by Christ Church College, University of Oxford, 1983.
    Accession no.
    EA1983.69.a

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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