The Floating World
Sakata Hangorō III as Fujikawa Mizuemon
三代目坂田半五郎の藤川水右衛門 · Sandaime Sakata Hangorō no Fujikawa Mizuemon
Tōshūsai Sharaku · 1794 (Kansei 6, 5th month)
What it is
The villain Fujikawa Mizuemon of the play Hana ayame Bunroku Soga — eyes cutting sideways, mouth dragged down — the man the whole revenge plot exists to punish.
Why it matters
Sharaku’s villains outdo his heroes: malice interested him more than glamour, and no printmaker before or since has caught it as economically.
What to notice
The menace is carried almost entirely by the mouth’s downward pull and the white of the eye — a full performance in two carved shapes.
Every revenge needs a man like this, waiting.
The record
- Artist
- Tōshūsai Sharaku 東洲斎写楽 (active 1794–1795)
- Date
- 1794 (Kansei 6, 5th month)
- Publisher
- Tsutaya Jūzaburō
- Medium
- woodblock print; ink and color on paper
- Source
- The Art Institute of Chicago · 1934.203
- kirazuri
Impression note. Surviving sheets differ in the sheen of the dark mica ground and in the strength of the fugitive colors; a fine impression keeps the black field dense enough that the face seems lit from the footlights. Impression variance is real — printings differ in wiping and fading — and choosing the finest openly held impression is the curatorial act.
Public domain; faithfully reproduced.
Bring it home
Printed to order on EMA matte art paper, 200gsm.
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