Bunchō ceased to design actor prints in the 1770s, Shunshō became pre-eminent in this field, providing more realistic portraits that emphasize the individual characters of the actors. Overall, he designed several hundred actor prints in the small, narrow hosoban format, sometimes composed as diptychs, triptychs, or even pentaptychs.
Shunshō was active in other genres as well, working for at least 18 different publishers. His early beauties like the series “Eight Views of Fukagawa” (Fukagawa hakkei) are strongly influenced by Harunobu. Around 1772 he collaborated with Shigemasa in producing the chūban-size series “Silkworm Cultivation” (Kaiko yashinai gusa). From c.1772–73 date forty-eight chūban-format designs of the first full-color print series illustrating the “Tales of Ise” (Ise monogatari). At the top of each print is a stylized cloud border, enclosing the poem from the depicted episode.
Shunshō created several portraits of sumo wrestlers. Until his death, Shunshō continued to illustrate books and also produced several erotica. In 1776, again in collaboration with Shigemasa, he illustrated the book “Mirror of Competing Beauties of the Green Houses” (Seirō bijin awase sugata kagami). Of the more than one hundred paintings known by him, the earliest is dated to c.1779–80. As head of the Katsukawa school, Shunshō had many students, including Shunkō, Shun’ei, Shunzan, Shundō, and Shunrō (who later changed his name to Katsushika Hokusai).
Shunshō passed away aged 67 on the eighth day of the twelfth month 1792, which corresponds to January 19, 1793 in the modern calendar. He is burried at Matsudaira Saifukuji, Asakusa, today located in Tokyo’s Taitō ward.
Early 1770s The actors Nakamura Sukegorō II and Segawa Kikunojō II in unidentified roles. Hosoban nishiki-e. Asian Art Museum, National Museums in Berlin.
1768 The actors ōtani Hiroji III as Kameō and Sakata Sajūrō I as Ariō in the play Hime Komatsu ne no hi no asobi, Ichimura Theater, IX/1768. Hosoban nishiki-e. Asian Art Museum, National Museums in Berlin.
c.1772–73 “The Syllable Yo”, from the series “Tales of Ise in Fashionable Brocade Prints” (Fūryū nishiki-e Ise monogatari). Chūban. Collection Peter Rieder.
late 1770s The actor Nakamura Rikō I in an unidentified role. (Left sheet of a diptych, right sheet shows the actor ōtani Tomoemon I). Hosoban nishiki-e. Asian Art Museum, National Museums in Berlin.
1770 The actor Ichikawa Danzō IV, from the “Picture-book of Stage Fans” (Ehon butai ōgi), vol. 2, p. 19. 16.7 x 25.9 cm (6.6 x 10.2 in.). Publisher: Kariganeya Ihei. Library of Congress.
c.1786 West Division—The sumo wrestlers Sekinoto Hachirōji and Dewanoumi Kinzō. Ōban. Collection Peter Rieder.
1776 The actor Ichikawa Danjūrō V as the spirit of the old woman Higaki in the play Sugata no hana yuki no kuronushi, Ichimura Theater, XI/1776. Hosoban nishiki-e. Asian Art Museum, National Museums in Berlin.
c.1770s The actors Nakamura Tomijūrō I sitting on a horse and Bandō Mitsugorō I in an unidentified play. Hosoban nishiki-e. Asian Art Museum, National Museums in Berlin.
c.1770s “Autumn Moon at Shiohama” (Shiohama no aki no tsuki), from the series “Eight Views of Fukagawa” (Fukagawa hakkei). Chūban. Collection Peter Rieder.
Harunobu
1725?–1770
Family names: Hozumi, Suzuki. Given name: Jihei. Art names: Chōeiken, Shikojin.
Suzuki Harunobu is thought to have been born in 1725 and lived in Kanda Shirakabechō according to the “Wastepaper Basket” (Hōgu kago) from the 1800s, written by Morishima Chūryō (1756–1810). [According to the “Supplement to Ukiyo-e Miscellany” (Zoku ukiyo-e ruikō) he lived in Ryōgoku Yonezawachō, however this source is from 1833 and seems rather unreliable as Harunobu’s artist name is given as “Koryūsai.”] It is unclear who he received his artistic training from and how he started his career. He probably was a student of Nishimura Shigenaga but also shows the influence of Nishikawa Sukenobu in his female portraits. His earliest known designs are dated to 1760, when he was in his thirties. These prints are benizuri-e (two-color-printing) and mizue (water pictures). The figure at the bottom left of page 59, Ōtomo no Kuronushi, is from the rare narrow-format (hosoban) series “Six Saints of Poetry” (Rokkasen), issued around 1765 by Iwatoya Genpachi. In these mizu-e the key block is colored and not black, hence the very light appearance of the print.
During the first half of the 1760s, Harunobu designed several actor prints. The majority of them are rather unexciting and lack the vigor of the kabuki theater. To the second half of the 1760s date a few warrior prints by Harunobu. In 1765, the first, innovative “brocade pictures” (nishiki-e) which caused a shift towards full-color printing were produced, showing Harunobu’s designs. Amongst them are “pictorial calendars” (egoyomi) from the years 1765 and 1766, commissioned by groups of haikai poets. These picture calendars were printed in small numbers and exchanged at parties. They were the driving force to the further commercialization of the print market and Harunobu was the foremost designer of such prints. Deriving from such picture calendars is his celebrated series “Eight Views of the Parlor” (Zashiki hakkei), published c.1766. The figure on the right shows one of the eight designs, “Descending Geese of the Koto Bridges,” in the first state with signature and seal of the haikai poet Kikurensha Kyosen, in reality the shogunal retainer ōkubo Jinshirō Tadanobu (1722–1777), who commissioned this series from Harunobu.
When the boom of picture calendars ended, Harunobu turned his focus to “parody pictures” (mitate-e) on a rich variety of pictorial and literary subjects. The figure on the next page, “Parody of Narihira’s Journey to the East,” from c.1768-69 is an example of this type of print, as is the figure on the upper right of page 59 from around the same time, depicting the young girl Ofuji, a sales girl at the well-known toothpick shop Hon’yanagi, together with the fortune god Ebisu from the series “Modern Seven Gods of Good Fortune” (Tōsei shichifukujin). Until Harunobu’s death in 1770, his delicate and sensual beauties dominated the print market. His designs are predominantly in chūban (medium print) size and his entire output of single-sheet prints, some of them actors but mostly young men and girls from the Yoshiwara pleasure quarter, is close to 900. Harunobu also produced several erotic works, very few paintings, and illustrated some seventeen books.
c.1766 “Descending Geese of the Koto Bridges”, from the series “Eight Views of the Parlor”
