# Ichikawa Monnosuke II as Soga no Gorō

**Katsukawa Shunkō** (Japanese, 1743–1812)  
1779  
color woodblock print  
Sheet: 30.6 x 14 cm (12 1/16 x 5 1/2 in.)

Courtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Art, 1920.518. [The museum's record](https://clevelandart.org/art/1920.518).

## About this work

Some Kabuki plays centered on the legend of the Soga brothers, Gorō and Jurō, who avenge their father’s murder before coming to their own demise. The setting is near Mount Fuji, part of which appears in the background. The print is likely from a diptych (a composition of two prints). The other print would have shown the rest of the mountain and Gorō’s retainer (a person retained by another to act in a military capacity), Asahina Saburō, tugging at the same pine bough as Gorō—a twist on scenes in which Saburō pulled Gorō’s armor to try to prevent him from protecting his brother.

_Text from the Cleveland Museum of Art._

Katsukawa Shunkō designed this in 1779, aged 36. It is now at the Cleveland Museum of Art.

### How it was made

- **Colour woodblock print.** In Japan these were a team effort. The artist drew the design, a carver cut it into cherry-wood blocks, one block for each colour, and a printer brushed on the pigment and rubbed each sheet by hand. Full-colour prints of this kind were called nishiki-e, “brocade pictures”, from the 1760s on.

### [Katsukawa Shunkō](https://www.ochreeditions.com/artists/katsukawa-shunko)

Japanese, 1743–1812

## Facts

- Type: Print
- Culture: Japan, Edo period (1615–1868)
- The artist was 36
- Real size: about 12 × 5½ in (31 × 14 cm). Closest to life size: the 11 × 14 in print.
- Century: 18th century
- Movement: [Ukiyo-e](https://www.ochreeditions.com/movements/ukiyo-e)
- Colour: brown
- Rights: public domain (CC0 1.0); free to use for any purpose.

## Get it

- Free download, full resolution: https://img.ochreeditions.com/m/500.jpg?dl=1
- Image: https://img.ochreeditions.com/a/500/1920.jpg
- Giclée reproduction on Hahnemühle Photo Rag: 8 × 10 in $28; 11 × 14 in $38; 12 × 16 in $42; 16 × 20 in $56; 18 × 24 in $68
- Framed reproduction: 8 × 10 in $78; 11 × 14 in $98; 12 × 16 in $108; 16 × 20 in $138; 18 × 24 in $164
- Canvas reproduction: 8 × 10 in $58; 11 × 14 in $72; 12 × 16 in $79; 16 × 20 in $98
- Print-ready file: 8 × 10 in $2; 11 × 14 in $2; 12 × 16 in $3; 16 × 20 in $3; 18 × 24 in $3

Sizes stop where the museum's file would print below 150 pixels per inch. Everything sold is a reproduction, made to order. [Order a print](https://www.ochreeditions.com/art/ichikawa-monnosuke-ii-as-soga-no-goro-cma-101856).