Shunkōsai Hokushū

Japanese

Kabuki Actor Nakamura Utaemon III as the Sword Master Kyōgoku Takumi, from the series Issei ichidai atari Kyōgen (Hits of a Lifetime of Kyōgen), 1825

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.

In the collection: 3 worksDated 1821–1825
Mostly: Prints
Movement: Ukiyo-eJapanese woodblock prints of the floating world: actors, courtesans, landscapes and the sea.
Courtesy of: The Met

Walk the Shunkōsai Hokushū gallery

The works

Bandō Mitsugorō III as Daihanji Kiyozumi and Arashi Koroku IV as Koganosuke

Shunkōsai Hokushū, 1821

Kabuki Actors Asao Yūjirō as Sano Genzaemon and Ichikawa Ebijūrō I as Miura Arajirō, in the play Keisei Sano no Funabashi

Shunkōsai Hokushū, 1822

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, 1825