MARCH 1924

              
Sawamura Gennosuke IV (沢村源之助; 澤村源之助)
Otomi (お富)

Play: Kirare Otomi (切られお富)
[Musume Gonomi Ukina no Yokogushi
(處女翫浮名横櫛)]
Performance Place: Kanda Gekijô, Tokyo
Performance Date: 03/01/24
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)  (#17)
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unpublished design.  Gennosuke IV died on April 20, 1936
at age 78.  He first played the role of Otomi in this play in
Tokyo at the Kotobuki-za in September 1888, and his final
Tokyo performance was in a July 1926 JOAK radio
broadcast.  This print, however, closely resembles a
photograph from the March 1924 production at the
Kanda Gekijô.
 
 

               
Nakamura Fukusuke V (中村福助) as Yayoi (弥生)

Play: Kagami Jishi (鏡獅子)
Performance Place: Meiji-za, Tokyo
Performance Date: 02/29/24
Print Date: 06/01/25
Artist: ?
Medium: Machine printed lithograph
Published: Cover to Engei  (演藝), Vol. 1, No. 3 (June 1, 1925)
Personal Collection
 
 

               
Nakamura Fukusuke V (中村福助) as Yayoi (弥生)

Play: Kagami Jishi (鏡獅子)
Performance Place: Meiji-za, Tokyo
Performance Date: 02/29/24
Print Date: 03/1924?
Artist: Tanaka Shiko (田中紫光)
Medium: Lithograph
^Personal Collection

Note: During the time when Shikô is known to have been actively designing prints,
Fukusuke V also performed this role in Tokyo in a special performance at the Teikoku
Gekijô Hoteru Engei-ba on November 5-7, 1923 and at the Hongô-za in June 1927.  I
cannot rule out the possibility that this print reflects one of these other performances.