# Kabuki Actor Nakamura Utaemon III as the Sword Master Kyōgoku Takumi, from the series Issei ichidai atari Kyōgen (Hits of a Lifetime of Kyōgen)

**Shunkōsai Hokushū** (Japanese)  
1825  
Woodblock print; ink, metallic pigment, and color on paper  
Vertical ōban; Image: 15 × 10 1/8 in. (38.1 × 25.7 cm)

Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2011.130. [The museum's record](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/76560).

## About this work

Shunkōsai Hokushū designed this in 1825. It is now at The Met in New York.

### 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.

### [Shunkōsai Hokushū](https://www.ochreeditions.com/artists/shunkosai-hokushu)

Japanese

Hokushū was the leading designer of kabuki actor pictures in Osaka in the 1810s and 1820s. Osaka designs of this kind, often commissioned by actors’ fan clubs, favoured close, intense portraits and lavish finishes, including metallic pigments. Working chiefly in the large ōban format, he recorded the city’s star actors in their celebrated roles, among them the great Nakamura Utaemon III.

_Written by Ochre Editions._

## Facts

- Type: Prints
- Culture: Japan
- Real size: about 15 × 10 in (38 × 26 cm). The 11 × 14 in print is close to life size.
- Century: 19th century
- Movement: [Ukiyo-e](https://www.ochreeditions.com/movements/ukiyo-e)
- Subjects: Men, Actors
- Colour: white
- Rights: public domain (CC0 1.0); free to use for any purpose.

## Get it

- Free download, full resolution: https://img.ochreeditions.com/m/987.jpg?dl=1
- Image: https://img.ochreeditions.com/a/987/1920.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; 20 × 30 in $86
- Framed reproduction: 8 × 10 in $78; 11 × 14 in $98; 12 × 16 in $108; 16 × 20 in $138; 18 × 24 in $164; 20 × 30 in $208
- Canvas reproduction: 8 × 10 in $58; 11 × 14 in $72; 12 × 16 in $79; 16 × 20 in $98; 18 × 24 in $118
- Print-ready file: 8 × 10 in $2; 11 × 14 in $2; 12 × 16 in $3; 16 × 20 in $3; 18 × 24 in $3; 20 × 30 in $5

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/kabuki-actor-nakamura-utaemon-iii-as-the-sword-master-kyogok-met-76560).