Utagawa Hirosada (歌川広貞: 1810-1864) (artist 1810 – 1864)

Nakamura Tamashichi I [中村玉七] greeting the audience, with memorial portrait of Nakamura Utaemon IV [中村歌右衛門]

Print

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Date:02/1852
Dimensions:7.375 in x 9.875 in (Overall dimensions) Medium:Japanese woodblock print
Inscription:Signed: Hirosada (広貞)
Links Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Philadelphia Museum of Art
Honolulu Museum of Art
National Gallery, Prague (via Cultural Japan) Description:This print functions on two levels: an actor performing in the play Fūryū Rokkasen and a memorial print or shini-e (死絵). The Museum of Fine Arts curatorial notes say: "After the death of Utaemon IV, who had played all five of the male poets, Tamashichi took over his roles in the play."

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These actors, one live and one probably deceased, are posed in this print in position used during the kōjō (口上) or prologue.

Clyde Haberman wrote in the New York Times on July 7, 1985:

As grand ceremonies go, the Kojo is not spectacular. Mostly, it involves 20 minutes of praise for the principal actor from his fellow performers, speeches delivered in the familiar, exaggerated manner of Japanese Kabuki, with voices ranging from low-range rumbles to supersonic screeches. When they have finished and he himself has spoken, the principal actor rises from a deep bow. Half-standing, half-sitting, he thrusts out his right leg, holds aloft a small lectern and scroll and, from that uncomfortable position, glares at the audience. That is all. He just glares, a defiant gaze, if slightly cross-eyed.

Of course, that was the description of the kōjō for one specific performance. It should not be viewed as a template for all of other examples.

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Listed, but not illustrated, in The Theatrical World of Osaka Prints by Roger Keyes, Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1973, #123, page 219.
Related entities actor prints (yakusha-e - 役者絵) (genre)
Nakamura Utaemon IV (四代目中村歌右衛門: 1/1836-2/1852) (actor)
shini-e (死絵) (genre)
Nakamura Tamashichi I (初代中村玉七: from 1/1824 to 2/15/1860) (actor)

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