About This Print

Ichikawa Danjūrō IX, in the lower left panel, playing the role of Kakoyo Akaemon¹, the mask maker, in the kabuki play Nanatsumen 七ツ面.  Above him is the box containing the seventh mask holding a secret scroll and the name 七代目 白猿. The Ichikawa family crest (mon) of nested squares is shown above Danjūrō, beneath which appears 九世市川団十郎 (9th Generation, Ichikawa Danjūrō) and the name of the character played 賀古屋赤右衛門 (Kakoyo Akaemon).

¹ The mask maker's name is also seen written as Kagose Akaemon and Gagoze Akaemon.

The Play Nanatsumen

Source: Naritaya website http://www.naritaya.jp/english/compendium/18_02.html and Kabuki 21 website http://www.kabuki21.com/nanatsu_men.php
Nanatsumen is about the Noh mask-maker Kagose Akaemon, in reality Awazu Rokurō Saemon, who removes various masks from their boxes, dancing their parts. He discovers a stolen scroll hidden in the mouth of the last mask (the seventh one), the mask of an evil character. He gives back the precious scroll to its legitimate owner, Yoshida no Shōshō.  In the play’s first performance, Danjūrō II used quick-change techniques to portray each of the masks.

The Kabuki Eighteen

Source: Kabuki Encyclopedia, An English-Language Adaption of Kabuki Jiten, Samuel L. Leiter, Greenwood Press, 1979, p. 152.
"The Kabuki Eighteen," a collection of plays established by Ichikawa Danjūrō VII, stresses the special aragoto acting art of the Danjūrō line.  In the Meiji period other acting families began to gather their most successful plays into similar collections.  See the Title Page from the series The Kabuki Eighteen (Kabuki Juhachiban) for a list of the plays.

Print Details

IHL Catalog	#723
Title or Description	Ichikawa Danjūrō IX as Kakoyo Akaemon in the play Nanatsumen (Seven Masks)  九世市川団十郎 賀古屋赤右衛門　七ツ面
Series	The Kabuki Eighteen (Kabuki Jūhachiban)  歌舞伎十八番
Artist	Torii Kiyotada VII (1875-1941)
Signature	Tadakiyo hitsu 忠清筆 followed by Garaku 画楽 seal
Seal	画楽 Garaku seal (see above)
Publication Date	November 8, 1895 (Meiji 28) 明治廿八年十一月八日
Publisher	長谷川寿美 Hasegawa Sumi [Marks: seal 25-406 長谷川寿美; publisher ref. 102]
Engraver	彫工弥太 Horikō Yata
Printer	摺工大亀 Surikō Ōkame
Impression	excellent
Colors	excellent
Condition	good - not backed; soiling throughout; binding holes left margin
Genre	ukiyo-e; yakusha-e
Miscellaneous	embossing throughout
Format	vertical oban
H x W Paper	14 1/2 x 10 in. (36.8 x 25.4 cm)
Literature
Collections This Print	Museum of Fine Arts, Boston RES.53.9; Tokyo Metropolitan Library 5721-C008-13; Tsubouchi Memorial Theatre Museum of Waseda University 201-0135 and 201-0156 and 201-0173 and 201-0187; National Gallery of Australia NGA 98.50.6; Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, University of Oregon MWJ51:T105