actor Ichikawa Danjūrō VII as Fuwa Banzaemon, Utagawa Kunisada

Exhibition Label:
“The Substance of Color,” Mar-2013, Mary Dusenbury
In the Edo period (1600–1868), sumptuary laws attempted to prohibit commoners from wearing luxurious clothing. To regulate color, government authorities restricted the use of dyes that produced vibrant colors such as safflower (pink to scarlet) and gromwell (purples). At times, people were imprisoned for wearing forbidden colors. Wealthy urbanites responded by fully exploiting the potential of dye materials that were allowed—indigo blue and a range of browns and greys. Kabuki actors were trend setters, striking the first pose on stage in attire that featured a new shade or tone of brown, blue, grey or black and setting off a rush on the dyehouse that had developed the color.
The actors in these prints are stylish and their costumes dramatic, but the effect is achieved solely with indigo and a range of browns, greys, and blacks.

Archive Label date unknown:
Fuwa Bansaku and Nagoya Sanzaburō were handsome young pages in the service of rival feudal lords at the end of the sixteenth century. Both men loved a courtesan in Kyoto and vied with one another for her favors. Their story was dramatized a century later as The Clash of Scabbards, although the setting was moved to Edo and their name and the period were changed. In this version of the play, Fuwa is dressed as a servant to a samurai. This is the left panel of a triptych.