Ichikawa Danjûrô VIII as Kano Shirojirô Motonobu in the play “Mukashigatari inazuma zoshi”, performed at the Ichimura Theater in Edo, third month of 1848

By U. Kunisada

Ichikawa Danjûrô VIII as Kano Shirojirô Motonobu in the play “Mukashigatari inazuma zoshi”, performed at the Ichimura Theater in Edo, third month of 1848
1848
color woodblock print
14" x 10"
collection Taylor McNeil

left sheet of a diptych Motonobu was the son of the artist Masanobu, both of whom served the Ashikaga shoguns (military rulers in Japan, 1338 - 1573). He employed his father's Chinese-inspired monochromatic ink-painting style but incorporated elements of Yamato-e (Japanese Painting) style, realizing a compromise approach combining the strong Chinese brushwork with the decorative appeal of the Yamato-e. Motonobu painted landscape, figures, and bird and flower pictures, painted sliding panels of the Reiun-in monastery in Kyōto, where he decorated rooms in the styles of various Chinese masters, and was influential in the development of Japanese painting approaches for centuries to follow. In the play “Mukashigatari inazuma zoshi" a cherished scroll entrusted to the care of samurai Nagoya Sanza is stolen and Sanza is banished and disgraced. The thief, Fuwa Banzaemon, is portrayed also by the actor Danjuro VIII, so we haven't yet figured out the relation between this portrayal of the influential artist of centuries earlier and the drama of the play.