# The Actor Ichikawa Danjuro IV in a "Shibaraku" Role, Possibly from the Play Ima o Sakari Suehiro Genji (The Genji Clan Now at Its Zenith), Performed at the Nakamura Theater from the First Day of the Eleventh Month, 1768

**Katsukawa Shunshō** (Japanese, 1726–1792)  
c. 1768  
Color woodblock print; oban  
38.3 × 26 cm (15 1/8 × 10 1/4 in.)

Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago, 1925.2365. [The museum's record](https://www.artic.edu/artworks/21839).

## About this work

Ichikawa Danjūrō IV appears in Shibaraku, the showpiece of his family’s aragoto, or ‘rough style’, of acting: a superhuman hero in an enormous costume who halts the villains with a thunderous cry. The scene was traditionally inserted into the season-opening programmes staged by the Edo theatres in the eleventh month. Katsukawa Shunshō was among the first print designers to give each actor a recognisable likeness, and his prints served fans as souvenirs of particular performances, as the long title, recording play, theatre and date, makes clear.

_Written by Ochre Editions._

Katsukawa Shunshō designed this in about 1768, aged about 37. It is now at the Art Institute of Chicago.

### What you’re looking at

A work made of color woodblock print; oban.

_Description from the Art Institute of Chicago._

### 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.
- **Ōban.** The standard large Japanese print size, about 38 × 25 cm.

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

Japanese, 1726–1792

Shunshō founded the Katsukawa school and changed the way kabuki actors were portrayed, giving them recognisable individual features rather than standard types. From the late 1760s his actor designs, often in the narrow hosoban format, dominated the field. He was also a refined painter of beautiful women, and the young Hokusai spent his early years in his studio under the name Shunrō.

_Written by Ochre Editions._

## Facts

- Type: Print
- Culture: Japan
- The artist was about 37
- Real size: about 15 × 10 in (38 × 26 cm). The 11 × 14 in print is close to life size.
- Century: 18th century
- Movement: [Ukiyo-e](https://www.ochreeditions.com/movements/ukiyo-e)
- Subjects: Japanese (culture or style)
- 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/89.jpg?dl=1
- Image: https://img.ochreeditions.com/a/89/1920.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; 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

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/the-actor-ichikawa-danjuro-iv-in-a-shibaraku-role-possibly-f-aic-21839).