Ippitsusai Bunchô
Japanese, active c.1755–90
Actor Nakamura Nakazō I as Yamaoka no Saburō, in “The Ever-Blooming Potted Tree” (Kawaranu Hanasakae Hachino Ki)
INV-2236
Ippitsusai Bunchô
Japanese, active c.1755–901769
Actor Nakamura Nakazō I as Yamaoka no Saburō, in “The Ever-Blooming Potted Tree” (Kawaranu Hanasakae Hachino Ki)
Ippitsusai Bunchô Japanese, active c.1755–90 →Japanese (culture or style)woodblock printprint
Date
1769
Medium
Color woodblock print; hosoban
Dimensions
32.7 × 15.2 cm (12 7/8 × 6 in.) (untrimmed)
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Location
Chicago, IL
Credit
Clarence Buckingham Collection
As with hundreds of Kabuki plays, the libretto for the one that is the basis for this print, The Ever-Blooming Potted Tre e, has not survived. Its plot apparently involves a maple-viewing party made up of a group of beautiful women and demons. (Viewing the changing colors of maple leaves in the fall is still a popular Japanese pastime.) In the dance sequence pictured here, the actor is about to confront a thief who attempted to steal a treasured demon mask.
Also notable
Works in the same vein
Komurasaki of the Miuraya and Shirai Gompachi (Miuraya Komurasaki, Shirai Gompachi)
Kitagawa Utamaro 喜多川 歌麿 Japanese, c.1753-1806
Hamamatsu, from the series "Fifty-three Stations of the Tokaido (Tokaido gojusan tsugi)," also known as the Tokaido with Poem (Kyoka iri Tokaido)
Utagawa Hiroshige 歌川 広重 Japanese, 1797-1858
Mitsuke: Ferries Crossing the Tenryu River (Mitsuke, Tenryugawa funawatashi), from the series "Fifty-three Stations of the Tokaido (Tokaido gojusan tsugi)," also known as the Tokaido with Poem (Kyoka iri Tokaido)
Utagawa Hiroshige 歌川 広重 Japanese, 1797-1858
