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The Actor Ichimura Uzaemon VIII and Onoe Tamiz`o in Five Roles from a Play
The Actor Ichimura Uzaemon VIII and Onoe Tamiz`o in Five Roles from a Play

The Actor Ichimura Uzaemon VIII and Onoe Tamiz`o in Five Roles from a Play

Artist/Maker (Japanese, active ca. 1757–1779)
Dateca. 1770
MediumColor woodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper
Dimensionsvertical hosoban; overall: 11 13/16 × 5 5/8 in. (30 × 14.3 cm)
Credit LineMary A. Ainsworth Bequest
Object number1950.173
Status
Not on view
More Information
At the top of this print, a warrior battles a giant earth-spider (tsuchigumo土蜘蛛). This references a popular 14th-century tale about the nobleman Minamoto no Yorimitsu 源頼光 (948–1021), who saved the city of Kyoto from marauding spiders by finding and killing the mother spider in a cave. The magic spider generates an apparition of a beautiful woman to distract Yorimitsu (seen at the upper left) but the clever hero is not tricked, slashing the vision away with his sword.

Although their names are not listed on the print, Ichimura Uzaemon IX 市村宇左衛門 can be identified by his family crest, seen on the costumes of the four lower figures; Onoe Tamizō I 尾上民蔵, at the top, wears the fan-shaped Onoe family crest. In the eleventh lunar month of 1772, Uzaemon played four roles at the Ichimura-za theater, represented here.
Exhibition History
Forty-eight Japanese Prints from the Mary A. Ainsworth Collection
  • University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN ( 1954-02 - 1954-02 )
  • University of the South, Sewannee, TN ( 1954-03 - 1954-03 )
Japanese Prints from the Mary A. Ainsworth Collection
  • Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin, OH (May 20, 1986 - July 20, 1986 )
Integral Insects in East Asian Art
  • Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin, OH (July 30, 2019 - December 15, 2019 )
Collections
  • Asian
This record was created from historic documentation and may not have been reviewed by a curator. Noticed a mistake? Have some extra information about this object? Please contact us.