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Tsutaya Jūzaburō: Master Publisher of Ukiyo-e

Tōshūsai Sharaku (act. 1794–95)
Nakamura Konozō as the Homeless Boatman Kanagawaya no Gon and Nakajima Wadaemon as Bōdara (“Dried Codfish”) Chōzaemon, in the Kabuki Play A Medley of Tales of Revenge (Katakiuchi noriaibanashi)
1794
Publisher: Tsutaya Jūzaburō
Color woodcut with mica ground
Asia Society, New York: Mr. and Mrs. John D. Rockefeller 3rd Collection, 1979.220

The play A Medley of Tales of Revenge was a composite drawn from two tales of revenge presented at the Kiri Theater in Edo in the fifth month of Kansei 6 (1794). The seven surviving prints Sharaku created for this drama all relate to an incident that occurred in 1723: the revenge of two sisters for the murder of their father. This is one of the best impressions to have survived, with Wadaemon having a red band of makeup over his eyes and Konozō wearing a slight body tint.

Photo: Susumu Wakisaka, Idemitsu Museum of Arts, Tokyo

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