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  • A muted red and green colored woodblock print of a Japanese actor playing a small hand drum. He is depicted in a room with a half-opened sliding door behind him.

Torii Kiyomitsu I

Segawa Kikunojō II

Maker

Torii Kiyomitsu I (Japanese, ca. 1735-1785)
Yamashiroya (Japanese), publisher

Title

Segawa Kikunojō II

Period

Edo (Japanese period)

Year

early 1760s

Medium

  • Polychrome woodblock print (benizuri-e)

Materials/Techniques

Techniques

  • Polychrome woodblock print (benizuri-e)

Materials

color, ink

Supports

  • paper

Geography

Place Made: Japan; Place Made: Tokyo

Dimensions

Hosoban: 31 x 13.8 cm (12 3/16 x 5 7/16 inches)

Signature / Inscription / Marks

[text and poems]
inscribed on print to right of actor Roko, a soubriquet of the actors Kikunojo I and II

Signature: Torii Kiyomitsu ga

Seals: Publisher's seal | Yamashiro han

Credit / Object Number

Credit

Gift of Mrs. Gustav Radeke

Object Number

20.1072

Type

  • Prints

Exhibition History

Striking Chords
Music in *Ukiyo-E* Prints
Feb 05, 2022 – Jul 31, 2022

Label copy

The elegant woman playing a hand drum (tsuzumi) is in fact an onnagata, or a male kabuki-theater actor impersonating a female character. This actor print (yakusha-e) depicts Segawa Kikunojo II (1741-1773), identified by the inscription on the right and the family crest on his sleeve. Depictions of actors on stage were popular, but off-stage images situating actors in private settings, amusing themselves with musical instruments-as in this print-delighted audiences who reveled in seeing their favorite actors behind the scenes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eng2KBI23E0

Women of the Floating World
Nov 09, 1990 – Jan 06, 1991
On Stage
Japanese Theater Prints
May 13, 1988 – Sep 04, 1988
Japanese Prints of the Kabuki
Sep 05, 1986 – Nov 23, 1986
Kabuki

Image use

The images on this website can enable discovery and collaboration and support new scholarship, and we encourage their use.

Public Domain This object is in the Public Domain and available under a CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication

Tombstone

Torii Kiyomitsu I (Japanese, ca. 1735-1785)
Yamashiroya (Japanese), publisher
Segawa Kikunojō II, early 1760s
Polychrome woodblock print (benizuri-e)
Hosoban: 31 x 13.8 cm (12 3/16 x 5 7/16 inches)
Gift of Mrs. Gustav Radeke 20.1072

To request new photography, please send an email to imagerequest@risd.edu and include your name and the object's accession number.

Feedback

We view our online collection as a living documents, and our records are frequently revised and enhanced. If you have additional information or have spotted an error, please send feedback to curatorial@risd.edu.

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