Katsukawa Shun'ei (勝川春英) (artist 1762 – 1819)

Nakamura Nakazō I [中村仲蔵] in a kabuki role

Print

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Date:1780s
Dimensions:5.5 in x 11.625 in (Overall dimensions) Medium:Japanese woodblock print
Inscription:Signed: Shunei ga (春英画)
Publisher: Ezakiya Kichibei
Links Art Institute Chicago - Shunshō print of Nakazō I with both of the actor's crests Description:Nakamura Nakazō I used two different identifying crests on his outfits

Nakazō I died in 1794 and his successor, Nakazō II, at the end o f 1796, but we have added an image of Nakazō II below the print from the Lyon Collection because it so prominently displays the triple 'hito' motif. In Worldly Pleasures, Earthly Delight: Japanese Prints from the Minneapolis Institute of Arts with an entry by Yōsuke Katō, from 2011 it says on page 153: "The gray "hito" repeated three times, thus people) - is the secondary crest of the Nakamura clan, designed by Nakazō I. It is based on the well-known charm against stage fright that requires performers to trace the character "hito" (audience, in this case) on their palms three times and then put their palms to their mouths, symbolically swallowing the audience."

Timothy Clark wrote in The Actor's Image: Print Makers of the Katsukawa School on page 116: "Legend has it that Nakazō I was determined to become one of the three most celebrated Kabuki actors of his day, and as a kind of sympathetic magic he chose as his "alternative crest" (kaemon) an emblem consisting of the character for "man" (hito) written three times in a row. This large white pattern that here decorates his long ceremonial trousers (naga-hakama)."

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This actor's specialty was playing arch-villains. His identifiable crests appear twice on his garments. On the green robe with the rope motif his crest appears as a circle toward the top with something akin to a double-vajra within. On the other robe is a three part repeating pattern which looks like our letter 'h'. This could easily be confused for a faux-Genji mon, but it is definitely one of this actors crests.

Both of these crests appear on more than one Shunshō print of this actor dating from ca. 1768. There are at least two examples in the Chicago Art Institute.

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The clue to the identity of the role being played here will be found in locating another robe with this prominent rope motif. So far we have been unable to find another one like it, but hold out hope that one day we shall find one just like it or, at least, somewhat similar.
Related entities actor prints (yakusha-e - 役者絵) (genre)
Nakamura Nakazō I (初代中村仲蔵 - from 11/1760 to 10/1785 and again from 11/1786 to 4/23/1790) (actor)
Genji related prints (Genji-e - 源氏絵) (genre)

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