Japanese Prints from the Arizona State University Art Museum
The ASU Art Museum serves a diverse community of artists and audiences through innovative programming that is interdisciplinary, educational and relevant to life today. The Jules Heller Print Study Room at the ASU Art Museum provides a secure environment for care and storage for more than 6000 prints in the collection while also being an accessible resource for students and public. An average of 600 students visit the Jules Heller Print Study Room during the academic year. To further assist the educational experience, on display are examples of tools used to create the prints and the Curator of Prints is available to explain the tools and print making processes to students, professors and scholars. Classes and individual students have participated in the origination and research of exhibitions from our Japanese print holdings: Lasting Impressions: Japanese Prints from the ASU Art Museum (Aug. 28 – Nov. 27, 2010); Legends and Myths in Japanese Kabuki Prints (Feb. 11 – Sept. 29, 2012); and, Echoes of Japan: Prints by Western Women (Jan. 3 – May 17, 2014). By digitizing the Japanese print collection; and placing it in the Library's digital repository will expand and support our interdisciplinary and educational focus in Japanese art, making it available to a much broader audience than just the museum visitor. This is a collaboration between ASU Libraries, the ASU Art Museum, and ASU Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts.
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- Creators: 歌川 国貞
This triptych shows a scene from one of the many kabuki plays based on the revenge tale of the Soga曽我 brothers.
Depicted in this print is the kabuki actor Onoe Kikugorō 尾上菊五郎 as Hisayoshi Hashiba 羽柴久吉 (a pseudonym for Toyotomi Hideyoshi 豊臣 秀吉) in the play Sanmon Gosan no Kiri.
The kabuki actor Ichikawa Medama 市川目玉 as Ōboshi Yuranosuke in a scene from a kabuki adaptation of the bunraku play, Kanadehon Chūshingura.
Vertical ōban woodblock. Number 9 of the 53 Stations of the Tōkaidō Road series features a portrait of the kabuki actor Iwai Hanshirō VII 七代目岩井半四郎 in the role of Ōiso no Tora 大磯のとら , a courtesan from a play based on the Soga Monogatari 曽我物語.
This print shows the actors Sasaki Gennosuke 佐々木源之助 (left) and Yodo Yosaemon 淀与三右衛門 (right) performing a fight scene in a kabuki play.
This print by Kunisada II portrays standing Edo courtesan with a roll of tissues tucked in her obi. There is a calligraphic poetic inscription in the upper left corner.
Depicted are the characters Kujaku Saburō Narihira 孔雀 三郎 成平 (left), Ono Komachi 小野 小町 (center), and Ōtomo Kuronushi 大伴 黒主 (right).
Depicted are the kabuki actors Nakamura Shikan IV 四代目 中村 芝翫 as the wood cutter Ōtomo Kuronushi 大伴 黒主, who is plotting a coup d'état, and Sawamura Tanosuke III 三代目 中村 芝翫 as Sumizome 墨染, the spirit of the cherry tree.