Natori Shunsen (名取春仙) (artist 1886 – 1960)

Sawamura Gennosuke IV [四代目澤村源之助] as Nikki Danjō [仁木だん正] in The Precious incense and Autumn Flowers of Sendai (Meiboku Sendai hagi) from the series Portraits of Male Actors in Various Roles [Shunsen Nigao-e Shū 創作版画 春仙似顔集]

Print

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Date:1928
Dimensions:10.75 in x 15.5 in (Overall dimensions) Medium:Japanese color woodblock print
Inscription:Signed: Taishidō Shunsen ga
('Green covered cave' Shunsen drawing)
Another source says it is Kunshido Shunsen ga
Artist's seal: Shunsen
Natori seal lower left corner
Publisher's seal: Watanabe-kō (渡辺工)
Links Waseda University
National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo - b & w
National Gallery of Australia
University of Michigan
Honolulu Museum of Art
Toledo Museum of Art
Nihon no hanga Description:Nikki Danjō is one of the great villains of kabuki theater. He is also a great sorcerer. This is described well in Earle Ernst in his book Kabuki Theater, p. 100. "A somewhat curious exit outside the curtain is that of the evil magician Nikko Danjō in The Famous Tree at Sendai. The warrior Arajishi has seized a large rat which carries in its mouth a scroll containing the names of a group of conspirators among which is Nikki Danjō. After a struggle, the rat escapes from Arajishi, runs to the hanamichi, and disappears into the trap-door at the shichi-san (the trap called the suppon) in a cloud of smoke. Immediately after, Nikki Danjō, transformed from a rat into a human being, dressed in mouse-colored clothes, and holding the scroll in his mouth, slowly ascends on a trap-lift. Arajishi defies him from the stage in a mie, and the curtain closes. Nikki Danjō makes a series of mystical passes with his hands and then turns toward the agemaku. He has given himself the mystic power to walk on smoke, and his extremely slow, quiet exit conveys the impression of this rare form of locomotion."

It should be noted that no matter which play the character of Nikki Danjō is in, the principles remain the same: Transformation into a rat and back again, the scroll with the list of conspirators and the element of smoke is always important. (JSV)

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One of the audience-identifying elements for this character is that he is wearing a noshime (熨斗目), an outfit well known to Noh theater, showing a wide horizontal band across the middle. Also, a three leaf ginkgo crest is prominently displayed. This is the mon worn by Sawamura Gennosuke IV.

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From an edition of 150.

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"Shunsen illustrates Sawamura Gennosuke IV, a senior actor of the 1920s, portraying the climactic moment when Nikki Danjō emerges from beneath the stage. The sorcerer holds a scroll in his mouth, and his forehead bears a fresh gash, to convey his transformation from the rat. The grey kimono mimics the color of the rat."

Quoted from: Stars of the Tokyo Stage by Lucie Folan, et al., National Gallery of Australia, 2012, p. 86.

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Illustrated:

1. In color in Stars of the Tokyo Stage by Lucie Folan, et al., National Gallery of Australia, 2012, on pages 18 and 87.

2. In a small black and white reproduction in Modern Japanese Prints by Dorothy Blair, #161.

3. In color reproduction in Fresh Impressions: Early Modern Japanese Prints, p. 201.

4. In color in 名取春仙 (Natori Shunsen), Kashigata City, 1991, #39, p. 46.

5. In a color reproduction in Heroes of the Kabuki Stage by Arendie and Henk Herwig, Hotei Publishing, 2004, page 242, no. 24.1.
Related entities Sawamura Gennosuke IV (四代目澤村源之助: November 1882 to April 1936) (actor)
Watanabe Mokuhan Bujitsu Gahō (渡邊木版美術画舗) (publisher)
actor prints (yakusha-e - 役者絵) (genre)
modern prints (shin hanga - 新版画) (genre)
Meiboku Sendai Hagi (伽藍先代萩) (author)

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