Cleveland Museum of Art
Sanjo Kantaro II in the Role of Urashima Taro
Kaigetsudō AndoLinkedCulture matchlcp-76db2383cac0
- Date
- early 1700s
- Medium
- hanging scroll; ink and color on paper
- Culture
- Japan, Edo period (1615–1868)
- Department
- Japanese Art
- Institution
- Cleveland Museum of Art
- Object ID
- 136933
From the Cleveland Museum of Art record
Sanjo Kantaro II was a Kabuki actor who specialized in playing youths ( wakashu ) and female roles ( onnagata ). He is shown here in the role of Urashima Taro. He rescues a tortoise, and as a reward, the tortoise carries him to the undersea palace of the Dragon King. He believes he has spent but three days there with the Dragon King's daughter; however, when he returns to the shore, he finds 300 years have passed. The actor holds a fishing pole, indicating his occupation as a fisherman. The upper portion of the painting contains a 31-syllable waka poem. The hexagonal design on the actor's robe represents the patterning of a tortoise’s carapace.
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Provenance & credit
As published by the source institution. Coverage varies — not every institution's open-data feed includes ownership history.
- Credit line
- Dudley P. Allen Fund and various donors, by exchange
- Provenance
- ?–1961: (Harry C. Nail [1909–1990], El Dorado, Arkansas, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art) | 1961–: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
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