- Museum number
- 1979,0305,0.160
- Title
- Object: (Nigao ehon) Yakusha gakuya tsu (似顔絵本) 俳優樂室通 (Guide to the Actors' Dressing-rooms)
- Description
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Illustrated book, colour woodblock print. 1 volume. Thirty-six bust portraits of thirty-six actors drawn with poems; with single illustration at beginning of volume. Covers: Original, dark blue. Title slip: Original, printed: "Nigao ehon yakusha gakuya tsu, zen" (Picture Book of Portraits: Guide to the Actors' Dressing-rooms, Complete) on pink slip pasted in top left corner of cover. Contents: 44 leaves: 5 single pages of "Lines to open the preface" (Jo-biraki no serifu), 1 double-page illustration of box at theatre, by Utamaro, 1 single page of author's preface by Shikitei Sanba, with illustration of 'Sanbaso', 2 single pages of notes, 36 single-page illustrations by Toyokuni and Kunimasa "Love Poems for Actors" (Yakusha ni yoseru koi-uta), 38 single pages of "Guide to the Kabuki Dressing-rooms" (Kabuki gakushitsu tsu) and "The Special Spirit of the Supporters of Actors" (Yakusha hiiki katagi) by Sanba, 5 single pages of postscript, 1 single page of publisher's colophon. Inscribed and signed.
- Production date
- 1799 (spring, preface)
- Dimensions
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Height: 18.10 centimetres
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Width: 12.60 centimetres
- $Inscriptions
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- Curator's comments
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Hillier and Smith 1980
Literature:
Brown, Louise Norton, 'Block Printing and Book Illustration in Japan', London and New York, 1924, p. 154.
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Asano and Clark 1995
An illustrated book containing thirty-six bust portraits of thirty-six actors drawn by Utagawa Toyokuni I (1769-1825) and his senior pupil Utagawa Kunimasa (1773-1810). The text was written and the book edited by Shikitei Samba, and there is a single illustration by Utamaro at the beginning of the volume showing members of the audience in a box at the Kabuki theatre.
Literature:
Otaka, Sennosuke 尾高鮮之助, "Utamaro no kibyoshi ko, 1-3"『歌麿の黄表紙考（一）~（三）』, ‘Mizue’「みづゑ」, 275-277, 1928, 63-65.
‘Kokusho somokuroku’「 国書総目録」, vol. 7, Iwanami Shoten, Tokyo, 1963-72, pl. 750.
Hillier, Jack, ‘The Art of the Japanese Book’, Sotheby’s Publication, London, 1987, 572-4, 576.
‘Hizo Ukiyo-e taikan’「秘蔵浮世絵大観」, gen. ed. Narazaki, Muneshige, vol. 3, Kodansha, Tokyo, 1987-90, pls. 318-322.
Other copies:
Museo d'Arte Orientale Edoardo Chiossone, Genova (2 copies).
Kyoto Univ. 京都大学.
National Diet Libarary 国立国会図書館.
Tokyo Municipal Central Library 東京都立中央図書館.
Tohoku University 東北大学.
Tokyo University 東京大学.
Waseda University 早稲田大学.
[Main text translated in Japanese below / 以下上記本文日本語訳]
浅野／クラーク 1995
初代歌川豊国とその高弟歌川国政による役者大首絵36人36図を収載した絵本。式亭三馬の編著で、巻頭の口絵として歌麿が上桟敷の観客風俗を描いている。
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Smith 1988
There is also a double-page frontispiece of theatre-goers in the foyer of a theatre by Utamaro and a single-page print of theatrical mask-costume for the 'sambaso' dance, unsigned. The thirty-six half-length portraits of actors are by Toyokuni and Kunimasa, each with a 'kyoka' (comic verse) inscribed in the background.
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
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Exhibited:
2001, 30 Jan-8 Apr, BM Japanese Galleries, 'Arts of Japan: Recently repaired paintings, Ukiyo-e IV'
'Kabuki Heroes of the Osaka Stage, 1780-1830'
British Museum, 30th Jun-15th Sep 2005
Osaka Rekishi Hakubutsukan, 1st Oct-23rd Nov 2005
Waseda Daigaku Tsubouchi-Hakushi Kinen Engeki Hakubutsukan, 1st Dec 2005-23rd Jan 2006
- Acquisition date
- 1979
- Department
- Asia
- Registration number
- 1979,0305,0.160
- Additional IDs
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Previous owner/ex-collection number: JH.160 (Hillier no.)
