Actor Nakamura Shikan IV as Satō Masakiyo

Minneapolis Institute of Art

Actor Nakamura Shikan IV as Satō Masakiyo

Tsukioka Yoshitoshi; Publisher: Maruya Jinpachi; Carver: Katada Chōjirō

Date
1867, 8th lunar month
Medium
Woodblock print (nishiki-e), ink and color on paper
Department
Asian Art
Institution
Minneapolis Institute of Art

This is not a warrior print, but it is the portrait of a Kabuki actor in the role of a general. It shows Nakamura Shikan IV (1831–1899), one of the most popular actors at that time, in the role of Satō Masakiyo in the play Kachidoki kachidoki shichiji no hatairo, performed in 1867. It was forbidden to include actual historical persons in Kabuki, so Satō Masakiyo was invented as the name for Katō Kiyomasa (1562–1611). Kiyomasa was related to a half-brother of the warlord Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1536–1598), who was regarded as one of the unifiers of Japan. Kiyomasa became Hideyoshi’s most trusted general, and at a battle in 1583 Kiyomasa lost his helmet and lance but was nevertheless able to overcome his opponent. In the print, a banner displays the invocation Namu myōhō renge kyō (“Sutra of the devotion to the mystic law of the lotus”), a mantra of Nichiren Buddhism, of which Kiyomasa was a devoted believer. Asia

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