ICHIKAWA SHÔCHÔ II (市川松蔦)
09/23/1886 - 08/19/1940

aka ICHIKAWA ENJAKU I (市川莚若)

Sugoroku of Portraits of Popular Characters (Atari yaku nigaoe sugoroku)

Print Date: 01/01/13
Medium: Sugoroku Lithograph
Artist: Natori Shunsen (名取春仙)
Personal Collection

Note: Supplement to the magazine Engei Kurabu, Vol. 2, No. 1.

            
            Ichikawa Shôchô II (市川松蔦) as
            Yaoya Oshichi (八百屋お七)
           
            Play: Shôchikubai Yuki Akebono (松竹梅雪曙)
            Performance Place: Meiji-za, Tokyo
            Performance Date: 01/1912
            Artist: Natori Shunsen (名取春仙)

Ichikawa Shôchô II (市川松蔦) as
Omatsu (お松)

Play: Kamiko Jitate Ryômen Kagami
(紙子仕立両面鑑)
Performance Place: Hongô-za, Tokyo,
Performance Date: 06/05/15
Print Date: 07/01/15
Artist: Ogawa Hyôe (小川兵衛)
Publication: Yakusha-e (Shin Nigao)
(新似顔), Vol. 2
Personal Collection
 
 
 

                 
Ichikawa Shôchô II (市川松蔦) as
Fukushimaya Osono (福島屋おその)

Play: Shinjû Naniwa no Harusame
(心中浪華春雨)
Performance Place: ?
Performance Date: ?
Print Date: 08/15/16
Artist: Yoshikawa Kanpô (吉川観方)
Series: [Famous Actors From East and West
Stage Picture Portraits]
Tôzai Meiyû Butai Esugata
(東西名優 舞臺絵すがた)
Medium: Woodblock printed postcard
Personal Collection

Note: Shôchô II played this role multiple
times over the course of his career.  Since
his most recent performance in Tokyo was
at the Hongo-za in January 1915, this likely
depicts a subsequent performance in Kyoto.
 
 
 
 

                 
Ichikawa Shôchô II (市川松蔦) as
Fukushimaya Osono (福島屋おその)

Play: Shinjû Naniwa no Harusame
(心中浪華春雨)
Performance Place: ?
Performance Date: ?
Print Date: 08/15/16
Artist: Yoshikawa Kanpô (吉川観方)
Series: [Famous Actors From East and West
Stage Picture Portraits]
Tôzai Meiyû Butai Esugata
(東西名優 舞臺絵すがた)
Medium: Woodblock printed postcard
Personal Collection

Note: This is a variant version lacking the
silver mica background.
 
 
 
 

Ichikawa Shôchô II (市川松蔦) as
Hitomaru (人丸)

Play:  Hyûgajima (日向島)
Performance Place: Kabuki-za, Tokyo
Performance Date: 08/02/17
Print Date: ?
Artist: Fujisawa Tatsuo
(藤澤龍雄; 藤沢竜雄)
Medium: Woodblock printed
envelope [Fujisawa Pochibukuro Set
#A or 2?]
Personal Collection

Ichikawa Shôchô II (市川松蔦) as
Hitomaru (人丸)

Play:  Hyûgajima (日向島)
Performance Place: Kabuki-za, Tokyo
Performance Date: 08/02/17
Print Date: ?
Artist: Fujisawa Tatsuo
(藤澤龍雄; 藤沢竜雄)
Medium: Woodblock print
[Fujisawa Accordion Album Set #2]
Personal Collection

                 
Ichikawa Shôchô II (市川松蔦) as Oman (おまん)

Play: Imayô Satsuma Uta (今様薩摩歌)
Performance Place: Shintomi-za, Tokyo
Performance Date: 10/02/20
Print Date: 1920
Artist: Yamamura Kôka (山村耕花)
*Image courtesy of the National Museum of Asian Art
 

Ichikawa Shôchô II (市川松蔦) as
Oman (おまん)
        
Play: Imayô Satsuma Uta (今様薩摩歌)
Performance Place: Asakusa Shôchiku-
za, Tokyo
Performance Date: 07/01/24
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
 
 
 
 

               
Ichikawa Shôchô II (市川松蔦) as Okaru (おかる; お軽)


Play: Kanadehon Chûshingura
(仮名手本忠臣蔵; 假名手本忠臣蔵)
Performance Place: Hongô-za, Tokyo
Performance Date: 12/1924
Print Date: 12/1924?
Artist: Miyake Hanayama (三宅花山)
Medium: Lithograph
Personal Collection

Note: Shôchô II also portrayed Okaru in the Michiyuki
Tabiji no Hanamuko (道行旅路花聟) [Ochiudo (落人)]
dance interlude between Acts IV and V of Kanadehon
Chûshingura at the Hongô-za in March 1924.   I cannot
rule out the possibility that this print reflects Shôchô II's
March 1924 performance.
 
 

                   
Ichikawa Shôchô II (市川松蔦) as Umegawa (梅川)
Kataoka Gadô IV (片岡我童) as Chûbei (忠兵衛)

Play:  Umegawa Chûbei (梅川忠兵衛), a common title for
a version of Koi Bikyaku Yamato Ôrai (恋飛脚大和往来)
Performance Place: ?
Performance Date: ?
Print Date: 1927
Artist: Natori Shunsen (名取春仙)
Series: Sôsaku Hanga: Shunsen Nigao-e Shû
(創作版画 春仙似顔集) (#23)
Personal Collection

Note: I have not found a specific performance with these
two actors in these roles.  As a consequence, it is possible
that whatever play depicted was performed before 1927.
 
 
 

                 
Ichikawa Shôchô II (市川松蔦) as
Okiku (おきく; お菊)

Play: Banchô Sarayashiki (番町皿屋敷)
Performance Place: Tokyo Gekijô, Tokyo
Performance Date: 11/01/37
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)  (#21)
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.  Shôchô II died on August 19, 1940 at
age 55.  He first played the role of Okiku in Tokyo at the
Hongô-za in February 1916.  Although Shôchô III's final
Tokyo appearance in this role was at the Tokyo Gekijô in
November 1937, it is possible that Gakô based this print
on one of Shûchô III's prior performances.
 
 
 
 
 

               
Ichikawa Shôchō II (市川松蔦) as
Okichi (お吉)

Play: ?
Performance Place: ?
Performance Date: ?
Print Date: ?
Artist: Miyake Hanayama (三宅花山)?
Personal Collection

Note: The signature for this print does not
appear to read "Hanayama," though the
seller of another claimed the artist was
Hanayama and was selling it with
another similar print by Hanayama
which dates to 1927.  I have included it
here in an abundance of caution. 
Shôchô II played the role of Okichi in
productions of Onna Goroshi Abura no
Jigoku (女殺油地獄) at the Hongô-za in
September 1925, Tôjin Okichi (唐人お吉)
at the Kabuki-za in August-September 1929,
and Tôjin Okichi to Jôigun
(唐人お吉と攘夷軍 at the Kabuki-za in
August 1931. It is not clear which
performance is depicted.

L: Ichikawa Shôchô II (市川松蔦) as
Yatsuhashi  (八ツ橋)
R: Nakamura Fukusuke V
(中村福助) as Onna Bashi (女馬子)
 
Play: L: Kagotsurube Sato no Eizame
(籠釣瓶花街酔醒);
R: Kiri Hitoha (桐一葉)
Performance Place: L: ?;
R: Meiji-za, Tokyo
Performance Date: L: ?; R: 04/03/21
Print Date: ?
Artist: Tanaka Shikô (田中紫光)
Medium: Woodblock printed
senshafuda
Personal Collection

Note: I have found records of Shôchô
II performing the role of Yatsuhashi at
the Meija-za in May 1928, at the
Kabuki-za in February 1932 and
December 1934, and at the Tokyo
Gekijô in May 1937, but these seem
to be too late in time given some
of the other performance dates for
other senshafuda in this series.
 
 
 
 
   

         
          Ichikawa Shôchô II (市川松蔦)
          as Koman (小まん)
 
          Play: ?
          Artist: ?
          Medium: Woodblock printed
          matchbook cover