Memorial Portrait of the Actor Ichikawa Ōmezō I – (Utagawa Kunisada) Previous Next


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Date: 1858

Size: 90 x 32 cm

Technique: Silk

Kabuki actor Ichikawa Ōmezō I (1781–1833) is shown in a formal pose, wearing a persimmon brown ceremonial kimono (kamishimo). Omezō was a leading man (tachiyaku) known for his penetrating eyes and distinctive hooknose. In 1858, probably for a memorial service for Ōmezo’s twenty-seventh death anniversary, an inscription was added by prominent Kabuki actor Ichikawa Danjūrō VII (Ebizō V). In distinctive, dynamic cursive calligraphy, he eulogized his mentor, referring to him by the name Sōdai: From the time of my youth, until I became a serious actor, I knew the joys of the path of acting in the Ichikawa lineage, and never lost enthusiasm for the aragoto style, and the acting methods that should last forever.For a long while,he made it his dutyto lend me support fromthe depths of his heart—Ichikawa Sōdai.

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