The Actors Nakajima Wadaemon as Bōdara Chōzaemon and Nakamura Konozō as Gon of the Kanagawaya Boathouse
Returned to lender
This work of art was on loan to the museum and has since been returned to its lender.This dynamic double-bust portrait against a dark gray mica background provides a study in contrasting personality types. The scowling character on the right, known derisively as the “Dried Codfish” Bōdara Chōzaemon and played by Nakajima Wadaemon, is shown dressing down the “Homeless Boatman” Gon, played by Nakamura Konozō. The scene comes from A Medley of Tales of Revenge (Katakiuchi noriai-banashi), a play staged at the Kiri Theater in Edo in the fifth month of 1794, when the artist produced many of his “large-head portraits” (ōkubi-e). Tōshūsai Sharaku was producing prints for three different theaters simultaneously—testimony not only to the popularity of his designs at the time but also to the power of his publisher, Tsutaya Jūzaburō.
Artwork Details
- 東洲斎写楽画 中島和田右衛門のぼうだら長左衛門と中村此蔵の船宿かな川やの権
- Title: The Actors Nakajima Wadaemon as Bōdara Chōzaemon and Nakamura Konozō as Gon of the Kanagawaya Boathouse
- Artist: Tōshūsai Sharaku (Japanese, active 1794–95)
- Period: Edo period (1615–1868)
- Date: 1794, fifth month
- Culture: Japan
- Medium: Woodblock print (nishiki-e); ink, color, and mica on paper; vertical ōban
- Dimensions: Frame: 20 3/4 × 15 13/16 in. (52.7 × 40.2 cm)
Image: 14 7/8 × 10 1/8 in. (37.8 × 25.7 cm) - Classification: Prints
- Credit Line: Lent by Lee E. Dirks
- Curatorial Department: Asian Art