Yakusha monoiwai 旦生言語備

FSC-GR-780.579

Commentary by Kitagawa Hiroko

Posted January 8, 2018

Original unedited text in Japanese follows

The artist of Yakusha monoiwai (A celebration of actors), Ryūkōsai Jokei 流光斎如圭 (d. 1810), is generally considered “the founder of Kamigata ukiyo-e.” He was a student of the Osaka painter Shitomi Kangetsu 蔀関月 (1747–1797), and he began designing illustrations for woodblock-printed books from the 1770s onwards. He was not a professional artist by trade, and it is believed that his artwork was done in an amateur manner. Ryūkōsai’s popularity increased from 1782 due to his painted portraits of kabuki actors for fans, and Yakusha monoiwai was his first attempt to create a actor picture-book (yakusha ehon 役者絵本) in monochrome. Originally two volumes, this book centered on forty-nine actors actively primarily in the Kamigata (Kyoto/Osaka) region. The Pulverer copy has only the first volume and features twenty-five individuals.

There was greater potential to produce woodblock-printed books in quantity than with painted works, and as such the readership and appreciation of actor portraits grew dramatically with the publication of Yakusha monoiwai. Most of the actors included are shown standing, one per page, and each portrait is accompanied by a haiku as well as the performer’s acting lineage and poetry names. Every actor is depicted in dress appropriate to him, rather that being represented in a specific dramatic role. This work is conceived in a lighter, more casual style than Ryūkōsai’s later single-sheet actors portraits or actor picture-books of onstage scenes, and the use of rounded lines conveys the sense that the figures are drawn from life: this quality helped determine the later direction of Kamigata ukiyo-e. The success of this work led to the production of actor picture-books in the Kamigata region and gave rise to the publication of single-sheet multi-color woodblock prints (nishiki-e 錦絵).

書名旦生言語備

執筆者北川博子

本書を手がけた流光斎は「上方浮世絵の祖」と言われる絵師である。大坂画壇の絵師、蔀関月しとみ・かんげつの弟子であり、1770年代から版本の挿絵を手がけていた。職業絵師ではなく、本業は別にあり、画業は余技であったと考えられている。本書は1782年頃から肉筆の役者似顔の扇面で人気を得ていた流光斎が初めて手がけた墨摺の役者絵本である。本来は上下2巻で、上方京都・大坂で活躍している役者を中心に49人が収載されているが、本書は上巻のみ、25人が掲載されている。版本は肉筆より量産が可能で、本書の出版により役者似顔の享受層が飛躍的に広がった。1頁に一人の役者の立ち姿が描かれ、句と屋号、俳名が添えられている。役者たちは特定の役というより、その役者に似つかわしい扮装で描かれている。後に流光斎が手がける舞台面を描いた役者絵本や、一枚絵の役者絵より軽快な筆致であるが、丸みを帯びた描線で人物を描く写実性が、この後の上方浮世絵の方向性を決定づけたのであった。本書の成功により、上方では役者絵本が板行され、その流れから一枚絵の錦絵が誕生するのである。

Selected readings:

Andrew Gerstle アンドリュー・ガーストル and Yano Akiko 矢野明子, eds. Ryūkōsai zuroku: Kamigata yakusha-e no reimei 『流光斎図録上方役者絵の黎明』(Nishinomiya City: Mukogawa Kansai Culture Research Center [武庫川女子大学関西文化研究センター], 2009).

Kitagawa Hiroko 北川博子, Kamigata kabuki to ukiyo-e『上方歌舞伎と浮世絵』(Osaka: Seibundō, 2011).

Osaka Museum of History (Ōsaka Rekishi Hakubutsukan 大阪歴史博物館) and the Tsubouchi Memorial Theatre Museum, Waseda University (Waseda Daigaku Engeki Hakubutsukan 早稲田大学演劇博物館), Nichiei kōryū Ōsaka kabukiten: kamigata yakusha-e to toshi bunka 『日英交流大坂歌舞伎展―上方役者絵と都市文化』/ Kabuki Heroes on the Osaka Stage 1780–1830 (Osaka: Ōsaka Rekishi Hakubutsukan, 2005).

Copies in other collections:
Hankyū Culture Foundation, Osaka

Kagawa University, Kagawa Prefecture
National Diet Library, Tokyo

Waseda University, Tokyo