print
- Museum number
- 2014,3039.11
- Description
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Colour woodblock print with metallic pigment. Reconciliation song of the Kabuki actors Arashi Kitsusaburō I (Rikan, right) and Nakamura Utaemon III (Shikan, left). About sixth month, 1821.
- Production date
- 1821
- Dimensions
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Height: 35.90 centimetres
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Width: 25.10 centimetres
- $Inscriptions
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- Curator's comments
- Patrons of Rikan (right) and Shikan (left) got together and formulated a strategy to persuade the two rival superstars to perform together again after more than fifteen years, during which time Rikan had steadfastly refused to perform with Shikan. This print celebrates the auspicious occasion in the summer of 1821 when the two actors finally met to reconcile their differences. The inset landscape shows a summer scene of crowds thronging a bridge over the Okawa (Yodo River) in Osaka to enjoy the fireworks. The vignette is framed by a circular 'yoshi' (indicating the artist Yoshikuni). Rikan's untimely death in the ninth month of 1821, however, dashed the fans' dream of a joint performance. The treatment of the two actors here recalls a print designed by Hokushu the previous year. The actors wear nearly identical summer robes (yukata), featuring their two crests: crane for Utaemon, and mandarin orange blossom for Rikan, a symbol of their reconciliation. Rikan holds the printed text of a song composed for the occasion, 'Crane and Mandarin Orange Blossom (second string tuned higher)' (Ni-agari tsuru tachibana). Shikan tunes the strings of a shamisen, ready to accompany him. The final line of the song is: 'All our past enmities have washed away in the Okawa River: how cool the summer breeze!' (Gerstle 2005, cat. 199).
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
-
2005, BM, Kabuki Heroes on the Osaka Stage, 1780-1830.
- Acquisition date
- 2014
- Department
- Asia
- Registration number
- 2014,3039.11
