The Floating World

active 1794–95

Tōshūsai Sharaku東洲斎写楽

Sharaku appeared in the summer of 1794, cut the most unsparing actor portraits the theater had ever seen, and vanished within ten months. His sitters’ vanity did not survive his honesty — the grimaces, the crossed eyes, the aging hands are all there — and the public tired of the truth. Nothing certain is known of his life. The portraits remain: the most modern faces in old Japan.

The workshop

Every Sharaku was published by Tsutaya Jūzaburō, who staked his house on the unknown artist and printed the portraits on dark kirazuri grounds — mica dust laid over glue — so the actors glitter out of blackness.

In the house

Ōtani Oniji III as the Yakko Edobei — Tōshūsai SharakuTōshūsai SharakuŌtani Oniji III as the Yakko EdobeiTōshūsai Sharaku · 1794 (Kansei 6, 5th month)Ichikawa Ebizō as Takemura Sadanoshin — Tōshūsai SharakuTōshūsai SharakuIchikawa Ebizō as Takemura SadanoshinTōshūsai Sharaku · 1794 (Kansei 6, 5th month)Segawa Tomisaburō II as Yadorigi — Tōshūsai SharakuTōshūsai SharakuSegawa Tomisaburō II as YadorigiTōshūsai Sharaku · 1794 (Kansei 6, 5th month)Matsumoto Kōshirō IV as the Fish Seller Gorobei — Tōshūsai SharakuTōshūsai SharakuMatsumoto Kōshirō IV as the Fish Seller GorobeiTōshūsai Sharaku · 1794 (Kansei 6, 5th month)Sakata Hangorō III as Fujikawa Mizuemon — Tōshūsai SharakuTōshūsai SharakuSakata Hangorō III as Fujikawa MizuemonTōshūsai Sharaku · 1794 (Kansei 6, 5th month)