Ichikawa Danjūrō V in the Scene "Five Chivalrous Commoners" from the Play A Soga Drama on the First Festival Day

Ichikawa Danjūrō V in the Scene "Five Chivalrous Commoners" from the Play A Soga Drama on the First Festival Day

Katsukawa Shunshō　勝川春章

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Famous actors, dressed as chivalrous commoners, stand before the entrance to the Chōjiya and O-miya houses in the Yoshiwara pleasure district. Danjūrō V is second from the right. Chivalrous commoners, who were fearless street toughs, protected ordinary people from lawless hatamoto samurai. Shunshō presented them in identical green kimonos with the emblem of each particular role along the hem and with the actor's family crest below the shoulder. The design motifs on Danjūrō V's costume are the character sen under crossed hammers and the family crest of three nested squares (mimasu).

Asian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Ichikawa Danjūrō V in the Scene "Five Chivalrous Commoners" from the Play A Soga Drama on the First Festival DayIchikawa Danjūrō V in the Scene "Five Chivalrous Commoners" from the Play A Soga Drama on the First Festival DayIchikawa Danjūrō V in the Scene "Five Chivalrous Commoners" from the Play A Soga Drama on the First Festival DayIchikawa Danjūrō V in the Scene "Five Chivalrous Commoners" from the Play A Soga Drama on the First Festival DayIchikawa Danjūrō V in the Scene "Five Chivalrous Commoners" from the Play A Soga Drama on the First Festival Day

The Met's collection of Asian art—more than 35,000 objects, ranging in date from the third millennium B.C. to the twenty-first century—is one of the largest and most comprehensive in the world. Each of the many civilizations of Asia is represented by outstanding works, providing an unrivaled experience of the artistic traditions of nearly half the world.