67
Ichikawa Komazō II in a shibaraku interlude, as Shinozuka Gorō Sadatsuna, the discoverer of the plot against the Emperor.
The actor wears the brick-red outer robe with the Ichikawa mon in white which was traditional, as was the make-up of the face, for shibaraku rôles. The other parts of the costume are black, orange, yellow and green.
As there are at least three known impressions of this print with the Sharaku signature, and none has been found signed differently, the design must be by the artist whose work we are cataloguing; but the fact should be recorded that Rumpf is not alone in thinking that the drawing resembles the work of Toyokuni.
The subject is reproduced as Rumpf number 130 from Kurth’s Geschichte des japanischen Holzschnittes, and not elsewhere.
One further note must be made: None of the other surviving prints by Sharaku that have to do with this play and are in hosoye form has a yellow ground. A shibaraku rôle, however, is apt to be shown alone and unrelated.
Hosoye. Yellow ground. Signed: Tōshūsai Sharaku.
Museum of Fine Arts (Spaulding Collection).
186
