Cleveland Museum of Art
Ichikawa Monnosuke II as Urabe Suetake, Onoe Matsusuke I as Usui Sadamitsu, and Nakamura Nakazo I as Watanabe no Tsuna in “The Four Heavenly Kings Costumed as the Night Watch”
Katsukawa Shunzan
- Date
- 1781
- Medium
- triptych of color woodblock prints
- Culture
- Japan, Edo period (1615–1868)
- Department
- Japanese Art
- Institution
- Cleveland Museum of Art
This triptych (a composition of three prints) shows actors portraying three of the four famed protectors of imperial regent Minamoto Yorimitsu (948?–1021). Collectively, they are known as his Shitennō (四天王), or “Four Heavenly Kings,” after the Buddhist deities who guard the four cardinal directions. The characters are indicated by the large house crests on their robes. The actor Onoe Matsusuke I’s identity is revealed by a fan with the ideograph matsu (松), or “pine,” tucked into his robe, just against his breastplate.
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Ichikawa Monnosuke II as Urabe Suetake, Onoe Matsusuke I as Usui Sadamitsu, and Nakamura Nakazo I as Watanabe no Tsuna in “The Four Heavenly Kings Costumed as the Night Watch”
Jun 18, 2026 · Short
Museum recordRelated across collections
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