The Kabuki Actor Ichikawa Danjûrô VII

Utagawa Toyokuni (I) (mentioned on object), 1825

De kabuki-acteur Danjurô VII in de rol van Sukeroku: gekleed in een zwarte kimono met twee rood-blauwe bloemen op de schouders versierd. Onder een zwarte parasol. (De prent is opgedragen aan de acteur)

  • Artwork typeprint, surimono
  • Object numberRP-P-1995-295
  • Dimensionsheight 198 mm x width 183 mm
  • Physical characteristicsnishikie, with metallic pigments and tsuyazuri

Utagawa Toyokuni (I)

The Kabuki Actor Ichikawa Danjûrô VII

Japan, Japan, 1825

Provenance

…; purchased from the dealer Hasegawa, Japan, by J.H.W. Goslings (1943-2011), Epse, near Deventer, 1992;1Coll. cat. Goslings 1999, p. 62, cat. no. 139 by whom donated to the museum, 1995

Object number: RP-P-1995-295

Credit line: Gift of J.H.W. Goslings, Epse


Context

For general notes on the series, see rp-p-1995-292.


The artist

Biography

Utagawa Toyokuni (1769-1825) was a pupil of Utagawa Toyoharu, who first aspired to a career as a designer of prints of beautiful women, bijinga, and then focused on the world of kabuki theatre. He was one of the very few 18th-century designers who enjoyed success well into the next century.


Entry

The Actor Ichikawa Danjuro VII as Sukeroku, holding an umbrella, his bamboo flute, shakuhachi, tucked into his sash.

Danjuro VII, known as ‘Eyeball’, Medama, Shichidaime Medama Danjuro - kiwame shichidaime Sansho, with seal: Yau, from un untitled series on The Danjuro Family Tradition of Kabuki Actors.

Ichikawa Danjuro VII (1791-1859), the grandson of Ichikawa Danjuro V, first acted under the names Ichikawa Shinnosuke and Ichikawa Ebizo. He then acted under the name Danjuro from XI/1800 to III/1832, when he resumed his original name, Ichikawa Ebizo V. As most other designs in this series, this one also appears to be after a historical performance, probably when Ichikawa Danjuro VII performed the role of Hanakawado Sukeroku in the play Sukeroku, staged at the Tamagawa Theatre in Edo in III/1819.2Kabuki nenpyo (Chronology of Kabuki), 8 vols. Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten, 1973 (1956), vol. 6, p. 59.

The reprint edition with various modifications is in the collection of the National Museum of Ethnology, Leiden (1353-1454).

One poem by Shichidaime Sansho [Ichikawa Danjuro VII, 1791-1859],3Kano, Kaian (ed.), Kyoka jinmei jisho (Dictionary of Names of Kyoka Poets). Kyoto: Rinsen shoten, 1977 (1928), p. 88. with seal: Kiba.

The poem is a haiku reading:
Sukeroku’s umbrella - what a blessing when the spring rain falls!

Issued by the Danjuro Fan Club
Signature reading: the late ko Toyokuni hitsu


Literature

M. Forrer, Surimono in the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, Leiden 2013, no. 524


Citation

M. Forrer, 2013, 'Utagawa (I) Toyokuni, The Kabuki Actor Ichikawa Danjûrô VII, Japan, 1825', in Surimono from the Goslings Collection in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: https://data.rijksmuseum.nl/200382613

(accessed 10 December 2025 13:11:01).

Footnotes

  • 1Coll. cat. Goslings 1999, p. 62, cat. no. 139
  • 2Kabuki nenpyo (Chronology of Kabuki), 8 vols. Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten, 1973 (1956), vol. 6, p. 59.
  • 3Kano, Kaian (ed.), Kyoka jinmei jisho (Dictionary of Names of Kyoka Poets). Kyoto: Rinsen shoten, 1977 (1928), p. 88.