Sanshibai yakusha ehon 三芝居役者絵本

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Commentary by Kaguraoka Yōko　

Posted December 3, 2017

Original unedited text in Japanese follows

Ehon butai ōgi (絵本舞台扇), a picture-book of actors by Katsukawa Shunshō (勝川春章) and Ippitsusai Bunchō (一筆斎文調), was published in 1770 (Meiwa 7), and it would establish the face of actor portraiture. The artist ofSanshibai yakusha ehon (Actors of the three theaters: a picture-book) was Shunshō’s student Katsukawa Shunkō. This work was released in 1772 (An’ei 1) as Shunkō was embarking on his career as an artist-illustrator. It is believed that it coincided with a period when he was still striving to learn the art of actor portraiture (nigao 似顔) from his teacher.

The book illustrates thirty-six representative actors active in the Meiwa (1764–1772) and An’ei (1772–1781) eras who specialized in male roles, principally jitsuaku 実悪, or “evil villain roles.” All of the actors are portrayed in half-length with striking, yet analogous, body poses and wear kimono with large crests (daimon 大紋). The compositional structure of each portrait is uniform, even though there are differences depending on the specific role. Although the distinguishing features of the chest area, eboshi hats, wigs, and so forth are rendered with care, the focus is on the depiction of the actor’s face. Each double-page opening illustrates two actors, and they seem to be arranged according to their similarity in appearance, including the outline of their faces to the features of their mouth, the shape of their eyes and noses. Such attention to the portraits may have been done in order to present the individual traits of each actor. Furthermore, the actors’ kimono are decorated with large crests, and the inclusion of crests were important when designing actor portraits; for that reason there was perhaps justification in doing this “draft” (shitagaki下書き) version.

A reproduction of this work was made in 1928 by the Association of Rare Book Reproductions (Kisho Fukuseikai 稀書複製会). The owner of the original copy at this time was Hayashi Wakaki 林若樹 (1875–1938). [1] Its subsequent whereabouts was thought to be unknown, but in fact the Pulverer copy is that work. Moreover, the Pulverer copy has a vermillion seal reading “Rei-in” (嶺韻), which indicates that this book was previously owned by Richard Lane (1926–2002).

書名三芝居役者絵本
執筆者神楽岡幼子

明和7年に勝川春章と一筆斎文調による『絵本舞台扇』が刊行され、役者を似顔で表現することが定着する。勝川春好は春章の門弟であるが、絵師として活動を始めて間もない頃の作画であり、師匠の春章にならって役者の似顔を描くことに苦心していた頃と思われる。明和安永期に活躍した代表的な立役および実悪を中心に男の役柄から３６人の役者を取り上げており、この一冊に女形は含まれない。全ての役者が大紋姿で、同じような姿勢の半身図で描かれており、扮した役による差異はあるものの、一定の構図を基本にしている。胸元や烏帽子、鬘等も描き分けてはいるが、一番力点が置かれたのは役者の顔と考えられる。見開きに二人の役者が配されるが、見開きに描かれた役者はあえて風貌の似通った役者を配する傾向が見てとれ、顔の輪郭や口元の特徴、目鼻の形などが近しいながらも、それぞれの役者の個性を描き分けるために、その差を確認しながらの下書きであったと想像される。また、大紋には大きく役者紋が描かれているが、役者絵を描く際などには紋も描く必要があるため、そのための下書きの意味もあったかと思われる。昭和３年に稀書複製会によって複製が作られたが、その時の原本所蔵者は林若樹であった。その後、原本の所在はわからなくなっていたが、プルヴェラー本はその原本である。[1] なお、プルヴェラー本には「嶺韻」の朱印があり、リチャード・レインの旧蔵と知れる。

Selected readings:

Higuchi Niyo 樋口二葉, “Explanatory Notes” (Kaisetsu 解説), inSanshibai yakusha ehon (Kisho Fukuseikai) 『三芝居役者絵本（稀書複製会)』(Tokyo: Beisandō, 1928).

Matsudaira Susumu 松平進, Doitsu ・Puruverā korekushonukiyo-e hanga meihin ten zuroku『ドイツ・プルヴェラーコレクション浮世絵版画名品展図録』(Tokyo: Asahi Shinbunsha, 1990).

Nakamura Yukihiko 中村幸彦 and Hino Tatsuo 日野龍夫, eds., Jihitsu sōkōbon『自筆草稿本』, vol. 44, Shinpen Kisho Fukuseikai sōsho『新編稀書複製会叢書』(Kyoto: Rinsen Shoten, 1991).

[1] In his commentary on the work Matsudaira Susumu confirms that the Pulverer copy is a copy from the Kisho Fukuseikai; see Matsudaira 1990.