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Image Not Available for The Actor Danjuro IX as Soga no Goro in the Kabuki Play "The Arrowhead" (Ya no ne)
The Actor Danjuro IX as Soga no Goro in the Kabuki Play "The Arrowhead" (Ya no ne)
Image Not Available for The Actor Danjuro IX as Soga no Goro in the Kabuki Play "The Arrowhead" (Ya no ne)

The Actor Danjuro IX as Soga no Goro in the Kabuki Play "The Arrowhead" (Ya no ne)

Artist (Japanese, 1863–1925)
Date1893
Mediumwoodblock print; ink and color on paper; veritical oban
Dimensionssheet: 36.7 × 24.9 cm (14 7/16 × 9 13/16 in.)
ClassificationsPrints
Credit LineDirector's Discretionary Fund
Object number1999.49
DescriptionYanone (Arrowhead), one of the 18 favorite Kabuki plays. vertical triptych.
Label Text2003-04-03: Migita Toshihide (Japanese, 1863-1925) The Actor Ichikawa Danjuro IX as Soga Goro in the Kabuki Play "The Arrowhead" (Ya-no-ne) 1893 Woodblock print; ink and color on paper; vertical oban Director's Discretionary Fund, 1999.49 The vendetta of the Soga brothers became the subject of more than twenty popular Kabuki plays-varied interpretations of the actual event and its legendary accounts. This print portrays the actor Ichikawa Danjuro IX (1839-1903) in the role of the younger brother Soga Goro Tokimune (1174-93) who had grown up in a monastery. Goro remembered how, shortly after their father's murder in 1176, his then four year-old brother Juro Sukenari had pointed to the sky and remarked that the flock of wild geese flying overhead looked like a loving family. Goro, then two years old, answered by swearing that they would one day take revenge. In the play The Arrowhead, Goro at age 19, dozes off while sharpening his arrows and has a dream that his brother Juro is in danger. The role demands the use of a formidable wig with stiffly pomaded "seven-spoked-wheel sidelocks" and forelock parted by an ivory dividing-comb as well as red stylized line make-up to indicate Goro's passionate character. The garment worn over the armor is decorated with Goro's characteristic butterfly pattern. Notes:Samurai Spirit
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