Kabuki Actor Morita Kan’ya VIII as the Palanquin-Bearer in the Play A Medley of Tales of Revenge (Katakiuchi noriaibanashi)

Kabuki Actor Morita Kan’ya VIII as the Palanquin-Bearer in the Play A Medley of Tales of Revenge (Katakiuchi noriaibanashi)

Tōshūsai Sharaku

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This figure, whose nickname "Uguisu" means "bush warbler," is a palanquin bearer, a profession that Edoites associated with petty hoodlums. Sharaku depicts him furtively rubbing his hands inside his kimono, a conventional gesture indicating his guilty awareness of the evil deed he is about to commit. Sharaku was a master at designing forceful graphic images. In this portrait, the strength of his draftsmanship is concentrated in the drapery folds and the varied lines of the facial features, where the essence of this character could be best expressed. The clipped starting points and tapered ends of individual lines are reminiscent of lines painted with a brush, yet the graphic quality is typical of the woodblock-print medium.

Asian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Kabuki Actor Morita Kan’ya VIII as the Palanquin-Bearer in the Play A Medley of Tales of Revenge (Katakiuchi noriaibanashi)Kabuki Actor Morita Kan’ya VIII as the Palanquin-Bearer in the Play A Medley of Tales of Revenge (Katakiuchi noriaibanashi)Kabuki Actor Morita Kan’ya VIII as the Palanquin-Bearer in the Play A Medley of Tales of Revenge (Katakiuchi noriaibanashi)Kabuki Actor Morita Kan’ya VIII as the Palanquin-Bearer in the Play A Medley of Tales of Revenge (Katakiuchi noriaibanashi)Kabuki Actor Morita Kan’ya VIII as the Palanquin-Bearer in the Play A Medley of Tales of Revenge (Katakiuchi noriaibanashi)

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.