Azuma Tozo Il in An Unidentified Female Role

Artist Torii Kiyomitsu (Japanese, 1735–1785)

Dateabout 1762–1767

MediumWoodblock print; ink and color on paper; benizuri-e (3-color?)

Dimensions29.8 x 13.4 cm (11 3/4 x 5 1/4 in.)

ClassificationsPrints

Credit LineJohn Chandler Bancroft Collection

Terms

Object number1901.59.2124

DescriptionHosoban
Label TextAzuma Tozo II in an unidentified role as a woman who is depicted standing on the bank of a river near the end of a great bridge. She wears a long sword and carries a shakuhachi (flageolet) in her right hand. Over her kimono, upon the sleeve of which the Azuma jomon is emblazoned, she wears a striped uchikake (overdress) which is thrown off from her right shoulder, and which has upon its sleeve the jomon that was borne by both Nakamura Sukegoro I and his son (II). I find evidence that Azuma Tozo II (who was a tate onnagata at the Morita-za from 1760 onwards) performed two different female roles in 1763 (while Nakamura Sukegoro I that year seems to have performed at the Morita-za) and one in 1767 at the Ichimura theatre. Double-check with Kabuki nenpyo for accuracy.See Muto Junko, Shoki ukiyo-e to kabuki, p. 531 (no.1007), p. 532 (no. 1025), p. 543 (no. 1133)[Old Gookin notes: "….the role in which Tozo is depicted was taken by him at the Ichimura theater when one of the Sukegoro was in the company. If it was the first Sukegoro the date must have been 1762."

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