Collections Database

Description:
vertical ōban; nishiki-e; yakusha-e

Label Text:
This print is from a series of 12 featuring Bandō Mitsugorō III that commemorates the debut performance in the hengemono kabuki play "Shiki no Nagame Yosete Mitsudai," in which the actor played all twelve roles. The play premiered in Edo in the third lunar month of 1813. This series, like the play upon which it is based, uses each of the characters to represent a different month of the lunar calendar. Here, Seiyō represents the month of the dragon, evident in the design of her kimono.

This print is signed at middle-right "Toyokuni ga" ('drawn by Toyokuni') and bears the seal of publisher Tsuruya Kinsuke of the firm Sōkakudō, a crane ('tsuru') beneath a right angle, accompanied by the characters "tsuru" and "kin," all within a rectangle. The title of the series and the character are identified in the text at upper-right within the white cartouche, with the actor identified in the orange cartouche immediately to the left.

Tags:
kabuki; figures; costume; headdresses; kimonos; dragons

Subjects:
Costume; figures (representations); Headdresses; Kabuki; Kimonos

Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=AC+2005.294

Research on objects in the collections, including provenance, is ongoing and may be incomplete. If you have additional information or would like to learn more about a particular object, please email fc-museums-web@fivecolleges.edu.