NATORI SHUNSEN (名取春仙) 

 1949

                   
Onoe Kikugorô VI (尾上菊五郎) as
Abe no Yasuna (安倍保名)

Play:  Yasuna  (保名)
Performance Place: Shinbashi Enbujô, Tokyo
Performance Date: 01/02/49
Print Date: 1949
Series: Kikugorô Buyo Sugata [Kikugorô’s Dance
Appearances] (菊五郎舞踊姿)
Personal Collection

Note:  Kikugorô VI first performed his own version of this
role in Tokyo at the Ichimura-za in February 1922.  He
reprised the role in Tokyo on at least 13 subsequent
occasions, and gave his final performance in the role at the
Kabuki-za in Osaka in March 1949.  Although his
appearance at the Shinbashi Enbujô in January 1949 was
his last appearance in this role in Tokyo, it is possible that this
print depicts Kikugorô VI in one of these other productions.
 
 

                   
Onoe Shôroku II (尾上松緑) as
Ôtomo Kuronushi (大伴黒主)

Play:  Tsumoru Koi Yuki no Seki no To (
積恋雪関扉; 積戀雪關扉)
Performance Place: Tokyo Gekijô, Tokyo
Performance Date: 02/01/49
Print Date: 04/1957
Medium: Hand-colored keyblock print (版画源画)
Personal Collection
 

                   
Nakamura Tokizô III (中村時蔵) as
Taruya Osen (樽屋おせん)

Play:  Taruya Osen (樽屋おせん)
Performance Place: Shinbashi Enbujô, Tokyo
Performance Date: 03/03/49
Print Date: 1953?
Series: Shin Yakusha-e [New Actor Prictures] (新役者絵)
Personal Collection
 
 

                   
Ichikawa Arajirô II (市川荒次郎) as
Kitamura Daizan (北村大膳)

Play:  Kôchiyama (河内山)
Performance Place: Osaka Kabuki-za, Osaka
Performance Date: 04/1949
Print Date: 10/1954
Medium: Hand-colored keyblock print (版画源画)
Personal Collection

Note: Arajirô II first played this role in Tokyo at
the Meiji-za in October 1895.  Given the
publication date of the print, it is possible that it
reflects a subsequent performance in some other
venue outside of Tokyo.  Arajirô II's final
appearance in this role in Tokyo was at the
Tokyo Gekijô in December 1940.
 
 
 

                   
Ichikawa Sanshô V (市川三升;  市川三舛) as
Toneri Umeômaru (舎人梅王丸)

Play:  Kuruma-biki  (車曳), Act III, Scene 1 of
Sugawara Denju Tenarai Kagami (菅原伝授手習鑑)
Performance Place: Tokyo Geikijô, Tokyo
Performance Date: 04/1949
Print Date: 03/1952
Series: Shinpan Butai no Sugata-e
[New Version of Figures on the Stage]
(新版舞台之姿絵)
Image courtesy of the Scholten Gallery

                   
Morita Kan’ya XIV (守田勘弥; 守田勘彌) as
Satô Shirô Tadanobu (佐藤四郎忠信)/
Genkurô Kitsune (源九郎狐)

Play:  Yoshinoyama (吉野山), Act IV, Scene 1 of
Yoshitsune Senbon Zakura (義経千本桜)
Performance Place: Osaka Kabuki-za, Osaka
Performance Date: 11/1949
Print Date: 02/1952
Series: Shinpan Butai no Sugata-e
[New Version of Figures on the Stage]
(新版舞台之姿絵)
*Image courtesy of the Tsubiouchi Memorial Theatre Museum

Note:  Kan’ya XIV's only performance as Tadanobu in
Tokyo prior to the publication date of this print was at the
Meiji-za in December 1937.  It is possible that this print
reflects that performance or some other performance
outside of Tokyo.