SAWADA SHÔJIRÔ (沢田正二郎)
05/27/1892 - 04/04/1929

                 
Sawada Shôjirô (澤田正二郎; 沢田正二郎) as
Tsukue Ryûnosuke (机龍之助)

Play:  Daibosatsutôge (大菩薩峠)
Performance Place: Asakusa Shochiku-za, Tokyo
Performance Date: 03/01/23
Print Date: 03/1923?
Artist: Miyake Hanayama (三宅花山)
Medium: Lithograph
Personal Collection

Note:  It is possible that this print represents a later
performance by Shôjirô, though I have not been able
to locate a later performance in Tokyo.
  
 
 

       
        Sawada Shôjirô (沢田正二郎 ) as
        Ryûnoksuke (龍之助)

        Play: Daibosatsutôge (大菩薩峠)
        Performance Place: Kôen Gekijô,
        Tokyo
        Performance Date: 03/01/23
        Print Date: 1928?
        Artist: Kamishita Chikamine
        (神下周峯)
        Medium: Woodblock printed
        pochibukuro
        Series: [Images of Famous Actors of
        Today] Tôsei Meiyû Omokage Zôshi
        (當世名優面影双紙) [#B]
        Personal Collection
 
        Note:  It is possible that this print
        represents a later performance
        by Shôjirô, though I have not been
        able to locate a later performance
        in Tokyo.  The envelope for Set #B is
        shown in the Chikamine entry for July
        1924.
 
 
 

               
Sawada Shôjirô (澤田正二郎; 沢田正二郎) as
Kira no Nikichi (吉良の仁吉)

Play:  Kôjinyama  (荒神山)
Performance Place:  Asakusa Shochiku-za, Tokyo
Performance Date:  03/01/25
Print Date:  03/1925?
Artist: Miyake Hanayama (三宅花山)
Medium: Lithograph
Personal Collection
 
Note: Shôjirô performed this role at the Shinbashi Enbujô in
November 1924, at  the Hōgaku-za in June 1926, and at the
Ichimura-za in May 1927.    It is possible that this print reflects
one of those performances.

                 
Sawada Shôjirô (沢田正二郎) as 
Hazama Shinroku (間新六)

Play:  Gishi Tsuto Kaibutu Hazama Shinroku
(義士傳怪物間新六)
Performance Place:  Asakusa Shochiku-za, Tokyo
Performance Date:  03/14/25
Print Date:  03/1925?
Artist: Miyake Hanayama (三宅花山)
Medium: Lithograph
Personal Collection

Note: Shôjirô also portrayed Hazama Shinroku in a
production of Aida Shinroku (間新六) at the Shinbashi
Enbujô in March 1924 and in  Gishi Hazama Shinroku
(義士間新六) at the Teikoku Gekijô in March 1927.  It
is possible that this print reflects one of those
performances.
 
 

               
Sawada Shôjirô (沢田正二郎) as
Tsukigata Hanpeita (月形 半平太)

Play:  Tsukigata Hanpeita (月形半平太)
Performance Place: Asakusa Shochiku-za, Tokyo
Performance Date: 06/02/25
Print Date: 06/1925?
Artist: Miyake Hanayama (三宅花山)
Medium: Lithograph
Personal Collection

Note: Shôjirô also portrayed Tsukigata Hanpeita in
productions at the Shinbashi Enbujô in July 1924, at the
Teikoku Gekijô in August 1926, and at the Ichimura-za in March
1928, as well as in a film version released in 1925.    I cannot
rule out the possibility that this print reflects one of those
performances.
  
 

                 
Sawada Shôjirô (沢田正二郎) as
Tsukigata Hanpeita (月形 半平太)

Play:  Tsukigata Hanpeita (月形半平太)
Performance Place: Asakusa Shochiku-za, Tokyo
Performance Date: 06/02/25
Print Date: 06/1925?
Artist: Miyake Hanayama (三宅花山)
Medium: Lithograph
Personal Collection

Note: Shôjirô also portrayed Tsukigata Hanpeita in
productions at the Shinbashi Enbujô in July 1924, at the
Teikoku Gekijô in August 1926, and at the Ichimura-za in March
1928, as well as in a film version released in 1925.    I cannot
rule out the possibility that this print reflects one of those
performances.

               
Sawada Shôjirô (沢田正二郎) as
Kunisada Chûji (国定忠次; 国定忠治)

Play: Kunisada Chûji (国定忠次; 国定忠治 )
Performance Place: Teikoku Gekijô
Performance Date: 08/1925
Print Date:  08/1925?
Artist: Miyake Hanayama (三宅花山)
Medium: Lithograph
Personal Collection

Note:  Shôjirô also portrayed Kunisada Chûji in
a production at the Ichimura-za in April 1927, as well as in a
film version released in 1925.  It is possible that this print
reflects ShôjirôI 's performance in one of those productions.

   

Sawada Shôjirô
(澤田正二郎; 沢田正二郎) as
Hazama Shinroku (間新六 )

Play:  Gishi Hazama Shinroku
(義士間新六)
Performance Place: Teikoku Gekijô,
Tokyo
Performance Date: 03/01/27
Print Date: c. 1927-1928
Artist: Kamishita Chikamine
(神下周峯)
Medium: Woodblock printed
pochibukuro
Series: [Stage Picture Scroll -
2nd Collection] Butai Emaki dai
2-shû (舞台絵巻 第2集)
Image courtesy of Gary
Christenson
 
 
 

                   
Sawada Shôjirô (澤田正二郞; 沢田正二郎) as
Hayashi Buhei (林武平)

Play: Tsurugi (剱; 釼)
Performance Place:  Teikoku Gekijô, Tokyo
Performance Date:  08/1927
Print Date: 1927
Natori Shunsen (名取春仙)
Series: Sôsaku Hanga: Shunsen Nigao-e Shû
(創作版画 春仙似顔集) (#27)
*Personal Collection

Note:  Depending on the precise publication date of this
print, it is possible that Shunsen modeled this print after
Shôjirô's performance at the Asakusa Shochiku-za, Tokyo,
 in March 1927.
 
 

                 
Sawada Shôjirô (澤田正二郎; 沢田正二郎) as
Kunisada Chûji (国定忠治)

Play: Kunisada Chûji (国定忠治)
Performance Place: Yamate Gekijô, Tokyo
Performance Date: 01/01/29
Print Date: 1950 or later
Artist: Ota Gatô (太田雅光)
Series: Meifu Miyage Geki no Omokage
(冥府苞苴劇容彩)  (#9)
Medium: ?
Image courtesy of the Tsubouchi Memorial Theatre Museum

Note: It is unclear if this is a woodblock print, a watercolor
drawing, or a hand-colored keyblock print for an
unpublished design.  Shôjirô died on March 4, 1929 at age
34.  He first played the role of Kunisada Chûji in Tokyo at
the Meiji-za in June 1921.  Although Shôjirô's last Tokyo
appearance in this role was in January 1929, it is possible
that Gakô based this print on one of Shôjirô's prior
performances in that play.
 
 

Sawada Shôjirô (沢田正二郎) as
Tsukigata Hanpeita (月形 半平太)
 
Play: Tsukigata Hanpeita (月形半平太)
Performance Place: Meiji-za, Tokyo
Performance Date: 06/21/21
Print Date: 1921?
Artist: ?
Medium: Woodblock printed
senshafuda

Note: Shôjirô subsequently performed
the role in Tokyo at the at the Asakusa
Shochiku-za in November 1922, at the
Shinbashi Enbujô in July 1924, at the
Asakusa Shochiku-za in June 1925, at
the Teikoku Gekijô in August 1926, and
at the Ichimura-za in March 1928.