May 1925

MAY 1925

Ichimura Uzaemon XV (市村羽左衛門) as
Kataoka Naojirô (片岡直次郎)

Play: Yuki no Yûbe Iriya no Azemichi (雪暮夜入谷畦道),
covering Act IV, Scenes 1 and 2 of
Kumo ni Magô Ueno no Hatsuhana (天衣紛上野初花)
Performance Place: Kabuki-za, Tokyo
Performance Date: 05/01/25
Print Date: 1925
Artist: Natori Shunsen (名取春仙)
Series: Sôsaku Hanga: Shunsen Nigao-e Shû
(創作版画春仙似顔集) (#3)
*Personal Collection

Note: Uzaemon XV first played Naojirô in Tokyo at the
Kabuki-za in November 1905. Prior to his 1925 performance,
he also performed this role at the Kabuki-za in April 1910, at
the Kabuki-za in November 1916, and at the Shintomi-za in
December 1919. Depending on the precise publication date
of this print, it is possible that Shunsen modeled this print
after Uzaemon XV's 1916 or 1919 performances.

Ichimura Uzaemon XV (市村羽左衛門) as
Kataoka Naojirô (片岡直次郎)

Play: Yuki no Yûbe Iriya no Azemichi (雪暮夜入谷畦道),
covering Act IV, Scenes 1 and 2 of
Kumo ni Magô Ueno no Hatsuhana (天衣紛上野初花)
Performance Place: Kabuki-za, Tokyo
Performance Date: 05/01/25
Print Date: 04/2003 (ed. 100)
Artist: Natori Shunsen (名取春仙)
Series: Sôsaku Hanga: Shunsen Nigao-e Shû
(創作版画春仙似顔集)

Note: This is a later printing in what is believed
to be a smaller size made under the auspices of
the Seisaku Shunsen Gahaku Ki Hanga Kankô-
kai. The actual size of the print has not yet been
confirmed but, regardless of the size of the print,
it can be distinguished from the original printing by
the presence of the red seals on the back of the
print.

Back of 2003 version

Ichimura Uzaemon XV (市村羽左衛門) as
Naojirô (直次郎)

Play: Yuki no Yûbe Iriya no Azemichi (雪暮夜入谷畦道)
Performance Place: Kabuki-za, Tokyo
Performance Date: 05/01/25
Print Date: 05/1925?
Artist: Miyake Hanayama (三宅花山)
Medium: Lithograph
Personal Collection

Note: Uzaemon XV also performed this role opposite
Baikô VI in a production at the Teikoku Gekijô in
November 1926, but this print more closely resembles a
photograph from the 1925 production.

Onoe Baikô VI (尾上梅幸) as Michitose (三千歳)

Play: Yuki no Yûbe Iriya no Azemichi (雪暮夜入谷畦道)
Performance Place: Kabuki-za, Tokyo
Performance Date: 05/01/25
Print Date: 05/1925?
Artist: Miyake Hanayama (三宅花山)
Medium: Lithograph
Personal Collection

Note: Baikô VI also performed this role opposite
Uzaemon XV in a production at the Teikoku Gekijô in
November 1926, but this print more closely resembles a
photograph from the 1925 production.

Onoe Kikugorô VI (尾上菊五郎) as
Adachi Motoemon (安達元右衛門)

Play: Katakiuchi Tengajaya-mura (敵討天下茶屋聚)
Performance Place: Shinbashi Enbujô, Tokyo
Performance Date: 05/03/25
Print Date: 1925
Artist: Natori Shunsen (名取春仙)
Series: Sôsaku Hanga: Shunsen Nigao-e Shû
(創作版画春仙似顔集) (#2)
Personal Collection

Note: Uzaemon XV first played the role of Motoemon in
Tokyo at the Kabuki-za in July 1914. Prior to his 1925
performance, he also performed this role at the Ichimura-za
in October 1919. Depending on the precise publication date
of this print, it is possible that Shunsen modeled this print
after Kikugorô VI's 1914 or 1919 performances.

Onoe Kikugorô VI ( 尾上菊五郎) as Adachi Motoemon (安達元右衛門)

Play: Katakiuchi Tengajaya-mura (敵討天下茶屋聚)
Performance Place: Shinbashi Enbujô, Tokyo
Performance Date: 05/1925
Print Date: 1926
Artist: Shin'ei (新栄; 新榮)
Series: Nigao-e (似顔絵), No. 3
Personal Collection

Note: Without the original folder, the information for this listing is subject to
revision. However, this portrait closely resembles a bromide of Kikugorô VI
in the 1925 Shinbashi production.

L: Morita Kan'ya XIII (守田勘弥;
守田勘彌) as Komatsuya Sôshichi
(小松屋宗七);
R: Onoe Kikugorô VI (尾上菊五郎)
as Adachi Motoemon (安達元右衛門)

Play: L: Hakata Kojorô Nami
Makura (博多小女郎浪枕);
R: Katakiuchi Tengajaya-mura
(敵討天下茶屋聚)
Performance Place: L: ?; R: Shinbashi Enbujô, Tokyo
Performance Date: L: ?; R: 05/03/25
Print Date: ?
Artist: Tanaka Shiko (田中紫光)
Medium: Woodblock printed
senshafuda
Personal Collection

Note: I have found a record of Kan'ya
XIII performing the role of
Komatsuya Sôshichi at the Teikoku
Gekijô in in April 1928, but this seems
to be too late in time given some of the
other performance dates for other
senshafuda in this series.

Onoe Kikugorô VI ( 尾上菊五郎) as Adachi Motoemon (安達元右衛門)

Play: Katakiuchi Tengajaya-mura (敵討天下茶屋聚)
Performance Place: Shinbashi Enbujô, Tokyo
Performance Date: 05/03/25
Print Date: 09/01/25
Artist: Tanaka Shikô (田中紫光)?
Medium: Machine printed lithograph
Published: Cover to Engei Shashinchô (演藝寫真帖; 演芸写真帖), Vol. 4, No. 9 (Sept. 1, 1925)
Personal Collection

Note: Although the artist for the cover is not identified, the design strongly resembles one designed
for a pochibukurô by Tanaka Shiko (who also contributed a frontispiece to this issue).

Plays: [Three Sisters] San'nin Shimai ( 三人姉妹)
Performance Place: Teikoku Gekijô, Tokyo
Performance Date: 05/01-10/25
Print Date: 05/1925?
Artist: ?
Medium: Machine lithograph printed? flyer art
Image courtesy of the Tsubouchi Memorial Theatre Museum

                    Ichikawa Sumizô VI (市川寿美蔵; 市川壽美蔵) as Toki Yoriin (土岐賴員)

                    Sawamura Sôjûrô VII (沢村宗十郎; 澤村宗十郎) as Sawamura Tanosuke (沢村田之助)

                    Plays: Miyako Odori (みや古踊); Bureikô (無禮講); Kaitei Yanagibashi Yawa (改訂柳橋夜話);
                    Docchadan'ne (ドツチヤダンネ)
                    Performance Place: Teikoku Gekijô, Tokyo
                    Performance Date: 05/04/25
                    Print Date: 05/1925?
                    Artist: Torii Kiyotada (鳥居清忠)
                    Medium: Woodblock printed ehon sujigaki cover
                    Image courtesy of the Tsubouchi Memorial Theatre Museum

Sawamura Sôjûrô VII (沢村宗十郎; 澤村宗十郎) as
Sawamura Tanosuke (沢村田之助; 澤村田之助)

Play: Kaitei Yanagibashi Yawa (改訂柳橋夜話)
Performance Place: Teikoku Gekijô, Tokyo
Performance Date: 05/04/25
Print Date: 12/01/27
Artist: Kawase Hasui (川瀬巴水)
Medium: Machine printed lithograph
Published: Frontispiece to Engei Shashin (演藝寫真), No. 12 (Dec. 1, 1927)
Personal Collection

Note: Although one would expect this to be Vol. 6, No. 12 of Engei Shashinchô
(演藝寫真帖; 演芸写真帖), the magazine changed its name to Engei Shashin
with no volume number given. Given that the January 1928 issue was Vol. 2,
No. 1, this issue is de facto single issue of Volume 1 of Engei Shashin.

This would appear to be No. 35 in the series Thirty-Six Selected Actors
(三十六家選 (その三十五)), although the print is no longer so identified in the
table of contents.