# The Actor Ishikawa Danjuro V Performing a Shibaroku Act with a Drawn Sword in His Hand

**Katsukawa Shunshō** (Japanese, 1726–1792)  
ca. 1781  
Woodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper  
H. 12 1/4 in. (31.1 cm); W. 5 7/8 in. (14.9 cm)

Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, JP1298. [The museum's record](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/55239).

## About this work

The great actor Ichikawa Danjūrō V strikes a pose with a drawn sword in Shibaraku, the bombastic role in which a hero bursts onto the stage crying “Wait a moment” to rescue the innocent. The part belonged to the Danjūrō line of actors, who performed it in a vast persimmon-coloured costume bearing their family crest of three nested squares. Katsukawa Shunshō pioneered actor prints that captured real performers’ faces rather than generic types, and his images of Danjūrō V were especially popular with theatre fans in Edo.

_Written by Ochre Editions._

Katsukawa Shunshō designed this in about 1781, aged about 45. 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.

### [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: Prints
- Culture: Japan
- The artist was about 45
- Real size: about 12 × 6 in (31 × 15 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: Swords, Men, Actors
- 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/941.jpg?dl=1
- Image: https://img.ochreeditions.com/a/941/1920.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-ishikawa-danjuro-v-performing-a-shibaroku-act-with-met-55239).