The Kabuki Actor Ichikawa Danjûrô II (1689-1758)
1788 (inscription 1829)
Katsukawa Shunsho 勝川 春章 Japanese, 1726-1792
Japan
This work depicts the Kabuki actor Ichikawa Danjūrō II (1689–1758) performing in a revenge play as Soga Gorō, the younger of two brothers. Here, he sharpens an arrow as he plots the death of the man who caused his father to commit ritual suicide (seppuku). Decades after the painting was completed, one of the actor’s descendants, Ichikawa Danjūrō VII, added an inscription of appreciation.
Hanging scroll; Ink and colors on silk