The Actor Ichikawa Danzo III as Shoki the Demon Queller in the Play Date Moyo Kumo ni Inazuma, Performed at the Morita Theater in the Tenth Month, 1768

Katsukawa Shunsho (Japanese, 1726-1792)

c. 1768

Medium
Color woodblock print; hosoban
Classification
Print
Dimensions
31.3 × 14 cm (12 5/16 × 5 1/2 in.)
Culture
Japan
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago, Arts of Asia
Credit line
Clarence Buckingham Collection
Rights
Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
Who can see it
Teens profiles and older: its subject is for older viewers (war, death, the Passion, drink or the like). How works are placed

View at the Art Institute of Chicago

About this work

The actor Ichikawa Danzō II is shown striking a pose, or mie, while playing the role of the formidable Shōki the Demon Queller during a performance at the Morita Theater in Edo (now Tokyo) in 1768. It looks as if he is shown mid-movement, with his sleeves and hair flying up in the air. Danzō’s actor-crest of three nested boxes appears on the front of his robe. Before it faded to a tan color, the background of this print was blue.

Description © Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0