Art Archive • Sharaku
Ukiyo-e
Ōkubi-e
Arashi Ryūzō I as Ishibe Kinkichi in the Play Hana Ayame Bunroku Soga
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Tōshūsai Sharaku. The Metropolitan Museum of Art (public domain).
About this work
From Hana Ayame Bunroku Soga — a moneylender’s stubborn pride distilled into one face; a masterpiece of psychological portraiture.
Arashi Ryūzō I plays the moneylender Ishibe Kinkichi in Hana Ayame Bunroku Soga. Sharaku’s genius here is social type rendered as pure facial architecture.
Viewing notes
Follow the hard lines around the mouth — they encode class and temperament without props.
Compare with other non-hero roles in Sharaku’s brief 1794 run.
The plain mica ground keeps attention on micro-expressions around the eyes.
Extended Japanese viewing notes: 二世嵐竜蔵の金貸石部金吉.