The Actor Arashi Otohachi I (facsimile?)

Ippitsusai Bunchō 一筆齊文調

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The kabuki actor Arashi Otohachi (1711–1769) was famous as a dōkegata (“clown person”), an actor who performs comic roles, derived from Saruwaka characters of the earliest stages of Kabuki in the seventeenth century. Though no information is given on the print, the actor can be securely identified by the crest on his robe that includes the character “shō” in a octagon made by cutting the corners of a square (sumikiri-kaku ni shō no ji 隅切り角に小の字). The matter needs to be further researched, but unsigned versions of this print (sometimes ascribed to Katsukawa Shunshō) are probably facsimile versions made at a later date. There is an impression of the original print signed “Ippitsusai Bunchō ga,” and impressed with the artist’s “Mori uji” 守氏 (Mori family) seal in the collection of The Tsubouchi Memorial Theatre Museum, Waseda University (acc. no. 201-6207).

Asian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

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.

Metropolitan Museum of Art