Art Archive • Sharaku
Ukiyo-e
Ōkubi-e
Sakata Hangorō III as Fujikawa Mizuemon in the Play Hana Ayame Bunroku Soga
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Tōshūsai Sharaku. The Metropolitan Museum of Art (public domain).
About this work
Fujikawa Mizuemon from Hana Ayame Bunroku Soga — a leading role set against mica, eyes narrowed to menace.
Sakata Hangorō III portrays Fujikawa Mizuemon in Hana Ayame Bunroku Soga. The portrait reads villainy through gaze rather than gesture.
Viewing notes
Track the diagonal tension from brow to jaw — Sharaku’s shorthand for moral weight.
Compare eye shape with Sagisaka Sanai’s frontal intimidation in the same season.
The mica ground acts as a void that pushes the face forward like a mask.
Extended Japanese viewing notes: 三世坂田半五郎の藤川水右衛門.