scene from the play "Shiten'ō ōeyamairi", Katsukawa Shunkō

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Katsukawa Shunkō, scene from the play "Shiten'ō ōeyamairi"
Katsukawa Shunkō, scene from the play "Shiten'ō ōeyamairi"
Katsukawa Shunkō
scene from the play "Shiten'ō ōeyamairi"
1785, Edo period (1600–1868)
scene from the play "Shiten'ō ōeyamairi", 1785, Edo period (1600–1868)
Where object was made: Japan
Material/technique: color woodcut
Dimensions:
Image Dimensions Height/Width (Height x Width): 366 x 247 mm
Image Dimensions Height/Width (Height x Width): 14 7/16 x 9 3/4 in
Sheet/Paper Dimensions (Height x Width): 366 x 247 mm
Sheet/Paper Dimensions (Height x Width): 14 7/16 x 9 3/4 in
Mat Dimensions (Height x Width): 19 x 14 in
Credit line: William Bridges Thayer Memorial
Accession number: 1928.7556
Not on display
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Archive Label date unknown: This scene from a kabuki performance of a "Shitenno mono," or Four Heavenly Kings cycle, performed at the Kiri Theater on the eleventh month of 1785, takes its loose plot from legend. The characters include Yamauba, (mountain woman), played by Segawa Kikunojō III (1751-1801), her superhuman son Kaidōmaru (or Kintarō) played by Ichikawa Monnosuke II (1743-1794), and the woodcutter Mita Gengo, played by Ichikawa Danjūrō V (1741-1806), the most celebrated actor of the 1770s and 80s. Yamauba fell in love with a courtier who was later exiled. Distraught and pregnant, she fled to the mountains where she raised her son in isolation with only wild animals for companions. From the first, the boy exhibited Herculean strength. He was discovered performing amazing feats such as in this scene wher ehe plays with a tree trunk as if it were a stick, and was taken back to the city where he grew to be a famous warrior.