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Ichikawa Danjūrō V as a Skeleton, Spirit of the Renegade Monk Seigen, and Iwai Hanshirō IV as the Cherry Princess, in “Flower of Edo: An Ichikawa Saga” (Edo no Hana Mimasu Soga)

A woodblock print of a human skeleton prancing toward a female figure, cowering on the floor in front of a decorative screen. The background is a deep black.
CC0 Public Domain Designation

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  • A woodblock print of a human skeleton prancing toward a female figure, cowering on the floor in front of a decorative screen. The background is a deep black.

Date:

c.1783

Artist:

Katsukawa Shunsho 勝川 春章 (Japanese, 1726-1792)

About this artwork

As told on stage in the play Edo no Hana Mimasu Soga (Flower of Edo: An Ichikawa Saga), the tragic love affair of the monk Seigen and the Cherry Princess Sakura-hime ends with him being driven from his temple for breaking his vows of celibacy. He later dies alone and impoverished and then haunts the princess; in this print, his ghost is shown as a skeleton drawing close to a cowering woman. When this scene was performed, the actor playing the ghost wore a black costume with bones painted on it. Here, the skeleton bears the crest of the actor on his arm, helping to identify the performance as one held at the Nakamura Theater in Edo (now Tokyo) in 1783.

Status

Currently Off View

Department

Arts of Asia

Artist

Katsukawa Shunsho

Title

Ichikawa Danjūrō V as a Skeleton, Spirit of the Renegade Monk Seigen, and Iwai Hanshirō IV as the Cherry Princess, in “Flower of Edo: An Ichikawa Saga” (Edo no Hana Mimasu Soga)

Place

Japan (Object made in)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

1783

Medium

Color woodblock print; hosoban diptych

Inscriptions

SIGNATURE Shunshô-ga

Dimensions

Right: 32.9 × 15 cm (12 15/16 × 5 7/8 in.); Left: 32.9 × 15.2 cm (12 15/16 × 6 in.)

Credit Line

Clarence Buckingham Collection

Reference Number

1938.491

IIIF Manifest  The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

Learn more.

https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/88304/manifest.json

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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