San Diego Museum of Art - Number Six: The Actors Arashi Kichisaburo III as Rokusuke and Onoe Kikugoro IV

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Utagawa Kunisada

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Bookmark: https://collection.sdmart.org/objects-1/info/22255

Number Six: The Actors Arashi Kichisaburo III as Rokusuke and Onoe Kikugoro IV

Kunisada Tsunoda, Japanese, (1786–1865)
Utagawa Kunisada, Japanese, (1786–1865)

Creation date: 1856

Creation place: Japan

Other Information

Type: Woodblock

Medium and Support: Woodblock

Credit Line: Gift of Captain George B. Powell, Jr., JAGC, USN

Accession Number: 2008.71

Dimensions: 13 3/4 in. x 9 1/16 in. (34.93 cm x 23.02 cm)

Provenance

Floating World Gallery, Ltd., Chicago, Illinois ( - )

George B. Powell, Jr., San Diego, California ( - June 20, 2008)

San Diego Museum of Art, San Diego, California (June 20, 2008 - )

Label Copy

On this print, the number six, roku, is written in seven different ways in the upper left cartouche. The artist selected a scene from an act from a Kabuki play called “Rokusuke’s Home” (Rokusuke sumika dan), because it begins with the word for “six.” After a quarrel, the skilled fighter Rokusuke went into hiding in the countryside, disguised as a farmer. A woman, who mistakenly believed him to be her father’s murder, found him and attacked him with her sword. After revealing his name, she immediately relented and disclosed her identity as Osono, who had been betrothed to Rokusuke long ago.
Last Updated: 2/17/2011

Exhibition

This object was included in the following exhibitions:

Dreams and Diversions: 250 Years of Japanese Prints from the San Diego Museum of San Diego Museum of Art , 11/6/2010 - 6/5/2011

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