JANUARY 1949

                   
Onoe Kikugorô VI (尾上菊五郎) as
Abe no Yasuna (安倍保名)

Play:  Yasuna  (保名)
Performance Place: Shinbashi Enbujô, Tokyo
Performance Date: 01/02/49
Print Date: 1949
Artist: Natori Shunsen (名取春仙)
Series: Kikugorô Buyo Sugata [Kikugorô’s Dance
Appearances] (菊五郎舞踊姿)
Personal Collection

Note:  Kikugorô VI first performed his own version of this
role in Tokyo at the Ichimura-za in February 1922.  He
reprised the role in Tokyo on at least 13 subsequent
occasions, and gave his final performance in the role at the
Kabuki-za in Osaka in March 1949.  Although his
appearance at the Shinbashi Enbujô in January 1949 was
his last appearance in this role in Tokyo, it is possible that this
print depicts Kikugorô VI in one of these other productions.
 
 

                   
Onoe Kikugorô VI (尾上菊五郎) as
Abe no Yasuna (安倍保名)

Play: Yasuna (保名)
Performance Place: Shinbashi Enbujô, Tokyo
Performance Date: 01/02/49
Print Date: 1950 or later
Artist: Ota Gakô (太田雅光)
Series: Meifu Miyage Geki no Omokage
(冥府苞苴劇容彩)  (#32)
Medium: ?
Image courtesy of the Tsubouchi Memorial Theatre Museum

Note: It is unclear if this is a woodblock print, a watercolor
drawing, or a hand-colored keyblock print for an
unpublished design.  Kikugorô VI died on July 10, 1949 at
age 65.  He first played the role of Yasuna in Tokyo at the
Ichimura-za in February 1922.  Although  Kikugorô VI's
final Tokyo appearance in this role was at the Shinbashi
Enbujô in January 1949, it is possible that Gakô  based
this print on one of Kikugorô VI's prior performances.