Portrait of Three Kabuki Actors

The Edo period (1603-1867) in Japan saw the rise of a wealthy urban class made up of merchants and artisans who had the means and the leisure to enjoy the diversions of the city: the Kabuki theater, the teahouses, and the courtesans of the pleasure quarters. Artists depicted popular actors, Sumo wrestlers, beautiful women, and courtesans of the Ukiyo (the "Floating World"), conveying the transitory, illusory quality of secular life in paintings and woodblock prints. Multiple woodblock prints, which could be produced quickly and inexpensively, were widely distributed. They served as souvenirs for visitors returning from enjoying the pleasures of the city: an actor print would be a memento of a famous play, while courtesans, with their coiffures and their richly patterned kimonos, were seen as fashion trendsetters and regarded much as movie stars are today. This print depicts three famous actors: (top) Ishikawa Komazo III (1764-1838) as Hachiemon; (left) Nakayama Tomisaburo I (1760-1819) in the female role (onnagata) of the courtesan Umegawa; (right) Sakata Hangoro III (1756-1795) as Kameya Chubei. This print takes its subject matter from the tragic story of the star-crossed lovers Chubei and the beautiful courtesan Umegawa, and Chubei's wealthy rival Hachiemon. In danger of losing Umegawa, the penniless Chubei resorts to theft and eventually the lovers commit suicide. The collection of Japanese art from which this print comes was amassed and donated by the late Jacob Pins, a Jerusalem artist and collector of world renown, over a period of fifty years. It is particularly strong in early prints and in pillar prints, a subject on which Professor Pins has published the definitive study.