Hunched over, Kodanji’s black clothing and tenugui cloth frame the actor’s face. A sword is tucked into his belt, signifying that he is performing the role of a low-ranking samurai. The oversized, ceremonial polearm lying at his feet finds a use when a scuffle erupts between Mago Dōhachi and Naosuke Gonbei.

The scene is from a play titled Azuma kudari gojūsan tsugi (吾孺下五十三駅), which roughly translates as ‘Fifty-three Stations to the Eastern Provinces’. This is a reference to the Tōkaidō or Eastern Coastal Road, which connected the cities of Kyoto in the west and Edo in the east. Azuma was equated with Edo. The wooden signpost in the print reveals that the drama is set by the Ōi River 大井川 in Shizuoka prefecture.

The play was performed at the Kawarazaki Theatre from the 26th day of the 7th lunar month of 1854 (Kaei 7). [3] The date seal on the print indicates government-appointed censors approved the design in the 8th lunar month of 1854 (8th month, Tiger year). Text on the print boasts that the kabuki actors are performing to a packed house (ōiri kanō 大入叶). The play was already attracting large audiences when this print was issued.

Artists made kabuki actors identifiable by using an economy of line to capture the star’s facial features, or ‘likeness’ (J. nigao). Kodanji’s nigao shows the actor with a long, oval face, a rounded chin and a crease beneath his lower lip. The actor has straight eyebrows that tilt upwards at the sides of the face. The eyebrows are animated by two circular marks that suggest a bulging brow. Kodanji’s eyes are shown with a single eyelid crease and sometimes with a crease beneath each eye. The actor’s long, slightly hooked nose has a pointed tip, and his downward curving lips are shown to have a small, well-defined bow. [4]

The viewer can enjoy the subtle colour variation of water, horizon and sky that results from gradation printing (J. bokashi-zuri). The jet-black of the actor’s clothing may have been produced by using a thickened ink or over-printing. These eye-catching techniques made the print more desirable to potential customers.

It is possible to identify the title of the play from the combination of date seal and actor’s nigao. Fortunately, kabuki performances are well documented by woodblock-printed playbills (J. banzuke) that have been digitally archived. These can be used to confirm the identity of actors, and reveal information relating to a play’s title, full cast, date, and theatre that staged the production. [5]

An identical complete triptych can be found at Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (object number: 11.44151a-c). [6]

Vanessa Tothill, May 2020

[1] The actors in this print were identified by Kurahashi Masae for Ritsumeikan University’s Art Research Centre Ukiyo-e Database, in partnership with The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (2006-2008). [2] Samuel L. Leiter, ed., New Kabuki Encyclopedia: A Revised Adaption of ‘Kabuki Jiten’ (Westport, Connecticut; London: Greenwood Press, 1997), p. 194.[3] A large single sheet playbill (J. tsuji banzuke) for this production is in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (object number: 11.28070), and can be viewed at:https://collections.mfa.org/objects/225480 [accessed 10 May 2020][4] The nigao of Ichikawa Kodanji is pictured in Tsubouchi Hakase Kinen Engeki Hakubutsukan, Waseda Daigaku, ed., Yakusha-e kenkyū shiryō 1, Zōho kokon haiyū nigao taizen, Engeki hakubutsukan yakusha-e kenkyūkai hen (Tokyo: Tsubouchi Hakase Kinen Engeki Hakubutsukan, Waseda Daigaku, 1998), no. 51, p. 140.[5] Picture book playbill, Art Research Center Collection, Ritsumeikan University, object number: arcBK03-0048-06. https://www.dh-jac.net/db1/ban/results-thum.php?f1=arcBK03-0048-06&f46=1&enter=portal [accessed 7 May 2020][6] Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, object number: 11.44151a-c. https://collections.mfa.org/objects/486657/actors-ichikawa-kodanji-iv-as-naosuke-gonbei-r-bando-shuk;jsessionid=C2472230E9B55526877970230DA0AFAB?ctx=4967522f-eff4-4f22-b268-a0c71acbd200&idx=0 [accessed 6 May 2020]