Title
The actors Onoe Kikugorō V as the ghost of Saijirō (above), Bandō Kakitsu I as Kanbara Mikinosuke and Onoe Matsusuke as the attendant Gonbei (below)
1887
Artist
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Details
- Place where the work was made
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Japan
- Period
- Meiji period 1868 - 1912 → Japan
- Date
- 1887
- Media category
- Materials used
- woodblock print; ink and colour on paper, diptych
- Dimensions
- diptych 74.2 x 25.2 cm
- Credit
- Purchased with funds provided by the Yasuko Myer Bequest 2018
- Location
- Not on display
- Accession number
- 283.2018
- Copyright
- Artist information
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Toyohara Kunichika
Works in the collection
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About
From about the age of 12, Toyohara Kunichika studied under the renowned artist Utagawa Kunisada (Toyokuni III, 1786–1865). Kunichika was a committed kabuki fan and his work often showed scenes from famous plays with great actors captured at particularly dramatic moments. His use of the vertical format was especially suited to portraying the extended diaphanous forms of ghosts. In ‘The tale of the Inaba novice on a rainy evening’, a bloodied spectral character played by the actor Onoe Kikugorō V rises above his co-stars. The fireball (hitodama) signifies the otherworldliness of the scene.
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Places
Where the work was made
Japan
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Exhibition history
Shown in 2 exhibitions
Japan Supernatural, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 02 Nov 2019–08 Mar 2020
Elemental, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 30 Jul 2022–2024