道化拳合 Dōke ken awase (Comic handgames) (caricatures of actors as three animals playing ken)

Utagawa Kuniyoshi, artist

1797–1861

道化拳合 Dōke ken awase (Comic handgames) (caricatures of actors as three animals playing ken), 1847, 2nd month, Edo period (1600–1868)

Where object was made: Japan

Material/technique: color woodcut

Dimensions:
Sheet/Paper Dimensions (Height x Width): 342.9 x 241.3 mm
Sheet/Paper Dimensions (Height x Width): 13 1/2 x 9 1/2 in
Mat Dimensions (Height x Width): 19 x 14 in

Credit line: Gift of H. Lee Turner

Accession number: 1968.0001.052

Not on display

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Archive Label date unknown:
In a famous kabuki play performed in 1847, three actors played a game of gestures based on those of animals, called "ken." The game gained instant popularity. The inscription shows the words which accompany the gestures:
Sake is a sake with ken,/and the items to present are--
A frog, on hop/Three hops, three hops.
A snake slithers, slithers/And I will play a slug, too.
Hey, let's go, jan jaka jaka jaka/Let's play ken.
Old mother scolded Watonai,/And the tiger crawled and crawled./to te tsu ru ten.
I will play a fox./Now, what will you do?

Kuniyoshi's humorous caricature of the three actors in the play is a transformation in three aspects. The words are concretized and become animals, which in turn behave like humans, who are in reality actors playing roles.