Art Archive • Sharaku
Ukiyo-e
Ōkubi-e
Kabuki Actor Ichikawa Ebizō (Ichikawa Danjūrō V) in the play The Colored Reins of a Loving Wife
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Tōshūsai Sharaku. The Metropolitan Museum of Art (public domain).
About this work
Leading-role intensity from The Colored Reins of a Loving Wife — Ichikawa Ebizō (Danjūrō V) as Takemura Sadanoshin.
Ichikawa Ebizō — later Danjūrō V — anchors this portrait as the stalwart Takemura Sadanoshin. Sharaku renders leading-man authority through eyes alone.
Viewing notes
Study how the mica ground frames the actor’s eyes without decorative distraction.
Contrast this upright tachiyaku bearing with the furious yakko Edobei in the same play.
Look for the tension between stillness in the face and implied stage movement.
Extended Japanese viewing notes: 市川鰕蔵の竹村定之進.