Ōta Masamitsu (太田雅光) (artist 1892 – 1975)
Leading Figures of the Modern Stage in Their Famous Roles, No. 11: Hanayagi Shōtarō (花柳章太郎) as Taki no Shiraito (瀧の白糸) or The Waterfall's White Thread
1954
11 in x 16.7 in (Overall dimensions) color woodblock print
Signed: Masamitsu (雅光)
Artist's seal in red
Printer's seal: Miyake Koshodo shosatsu
三宅耕書堂摺摺刷
Copyright: Banchōrō (番蝶楼蔵版)
Number - embossed in lower right: 153
Portland Art Museum
Waseda University
Lyon Collection - another copy of this print Hanayagi is depicted here as Taki no Shiraito (The Waterfall's White Thread), an itinerant female entertainer in Izumi Kyoka's play and film, Giketsu kyoketsu.
"Taki no Shiraito: This play was adapted from Izumi Kyôka's novel "Giketsu Kyôketsu" ('The Righteous and the Chivalrous') in 1895. Taki no Shiraito (Nakamura Kazutarô), a female entertainer who is a member of a troupe, meets Murakoshi Kin'ya (Onoe Matsuya). Though his house has gone to ruin and he is now a groom, he dreams of becoming a lawyer. She promises to supply him with his school-expenses. Three years later, she is robbed of the money she intended to send to him. She becomes distracted and kills a married couple in a nearby house. Appearing in court as a murder suspect, she is shocked to find Kin'ya, who for the first time after he graduated university, is sitting in the seat of a public prosecutor."
Quoted directly from Kabuki21.
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A 'new school' or shimpa, a term coined in 1897, the Shinsei Shimpa, was formed around Hanayagi Shōtarō in 1939 and had a good beginning. "The Miyako Shinbun, a newspaper with an authoritative voice in theatre matters, singled out this company as having mounted all but one of the most memorable productions in 1940, and Hanayagi was praised extravagantly for several performances in 1941." It was a very profitable school.
Hanayagi Shōtarō (花柳"章太郎) (actor)
actor prints (yakusha-e - 役者絵) (genre)
modern prints (shin hanga - 新版画) (genre)
Banchōrō (番蝶楼) (publisher)
Shōwa era (昭和時代) (genre)