The black flag at the upper right corner contains the series name. The scroll at the upper left contains a text description of the print, including the title, Kurofuda (black plank), referring to the black wooden plank to the right of the stage. When a member of the audience needed to be paged, their name would be written on this plank.
This print gives a glimpse into a kabuki theater. A stage assistant beats long wooden clappers (hyoshigi or ki) to accentuate the opening of the curtain and the start of the performance. Another assistant is waiting to strike slightly shorter clappers (tsuke) against a board placed on the floor to emphasize other onstage actions such as running, fighting, or mie (striking a powerful, emotional pose). It also gives a glimpse of the audience and while some appear to be attentive to the action on stage, others are also talking, looking at notes and even entertaining a baby.
Details
- Kurofuda, From the Calendar of Events in Edo
- 黒札・大江戸しばゐねんぢうぎやうじ
- Adachi Ginkō (Artist)
- 安達 吟光 (Artist)
- Hasegawa Sumi (Publisher)
- 長谷川寿美 (Publisher)
- Identifier TypeLocally defined identifierIdentifier ValueASUM 2005.115.002
- Dimensions: 14 ⅛ x 9 ⅝ in. (35.88 x 24.45 cm)
- Artist’s signature: Ōju Ginkō 応需 吟光
- Artist’s seal: Ginkō 吟光
- Publisher’s address: Kyōbashi Nantenmachō Nichōme 17-banchi 京橋 南伝馬町 二丁目 十七番地
- Publisher’s seal: Hasegawa Sumi 長谷川 寿美
- Gift of Waynor and Laurie Rogers
- Little is known of the life of Adachi Ginko. His given name was Adachi Heishichi. He studied Western painting with Goseda Horyo I. He designed hanshita (black outline prints) of the Boshin rebellion in 1870. He was an illustrator and a correspondent during the Sino-Japanese war. He is known to have produced actor prints, satirical cartoons, illustrations for books, and war prints. The only specific recorded event in his life was his imprisonment in 1889 for designing a cartoon that portrayed the emperor as a skeleton. He was active as a printmaker from 1874 to 1897.
- Sources: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston http://www.mfa.org/collections/object/blackboard-for-paging-audience-members-kurofuda-from-the-series-annual-events-of-the-theater-in-edo-%C3%B4-edo-shibai-nenj%C3%BB-gy%C3%B4ji-322706, opens in a new window Waseda Tsubouchi Memorial Theatre Museum http://enpaku.waseda.ac.jp/db/enpakunishik/results-big.php?shiryo_no=201-0706, opens in a new window
- This print is also held by several other museums, including the British Museum: http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=781237&partId=1, opens in a new window
