NOVEMBER 1931

                                   
Hanayagi Shôtarô (花柳章太郎) as Omiya (大宮)

Play: Konjiki Yasha (金色夜叉)
Performance Place: Meiji-za, Tokyo
Performance Date: 11/01/31
Print Date:  [1932-1934]
Artist: Natori Shunsen (名取春仙)
Series: Supplement to Sôsaku Hanga: Shunsen Nigao-e Shû
(創作版画 春仙似顔集)

Note:  Although listed in a Watanabe sales catalog, it is
possible that this print was never editioned.
 
 
 
 

               
Nakamura Ganjirô I (中村鴈治郎) as
Kamiya Jihê (紙屋治兵衛)

Play: Shigure Kotatsu (時雨の炬燵), Act II of
Shinjû Ten no Amijima (心中天網島)
Performance Place: Kabuki-za, Tokyo
Performance Date: 10/31/31
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)  (#15)
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unpublished design.  Ganjirô I died on February 1, 1935 at
age 76.  He first played the role of Kamiya Jihê in this play
in Tokyo at the Kabuki-za in October 1906 (he had played
it in Osaka as far back as February 1885).  Although
Ganjirô I's final Tokyo appearance in this role was at the
Kabuki-za in November 1931, it is possible that Gakô
based this print on one of Ganjirô I's prior performances.
(His final Tokyo appearance in the first act, Kawashô
(河庄), was at the Kabuki-za in June 1931.)
 
 
 
 
 
 
  

               
Nakamura Ganjirô I (中村鴈治郎) as
Kamiya Jihê (紙屋治兵衛)

Play: Shigure Kotatsu (時雨の炬燵), Act II of
Shinjû Ten no Amijima (心中天網島)
Performance Place: Kabuki-za, Tokyo
Performance Date: 10/31/31
Print Date: 1953
Artist: Ota Gakô (太田雅光)
Series: Shôwa Butai Sugata (昭和舞台姿 その一) (#11)
Image courtesy of the Tsubouchi Memorial Theatre Museum

Note: Ganjirô I first played the role of Kamiya Jihê in this
play in Tokyo at the Kabuki-za in October 1906 (he had
played it in Osaka as far back as February 1885).  Although
Ganjirô I's final Tokyo appearance in this role was at the
Kabuki-za in November 1931, it is possible that Gakô based
this print on one of Ganjirô I's prior performances.  Indeed,
the actor looks considerably younger here than in Ota's other
portrait of Ganjirô I.  (His final Tokyo appearance in the first
act, Kawashô (河庄), was at the Kabuki-za in June 1931.)