Background
Ichikawa Ebijūrō I (1777-1827) was also known by his pen names Shinshō (新升) and his art name Shikaku (市鶴). Initially a disciple of Ichikawa Danzō IV (市川團蔵 1745-1808) using the name Ichizō, he later became a student of the superstar Ichikawa Danjūrō VII (市川團十郎) in Edo, through an introduction by Nakamura Utaemon III (中村歌右衛門). In 1815, Danjūrō awarded him the acting name Ebijūrō. After seven years in Edo, he returned to Osaka in the tenth month, 1815, to re-launch his career as a rough, villain-role specialist (jitsuaku, katakiyaku). He mostly played opposite Shikan I, but also performed with Rikan I and Rikan II.
During his lifetime, Ichikawa Ebijûrô I was considered a talented tachiyaku actor (male roles 立役), who was trained by Ichikawa Danzô IV and achieved fame in both Edo and Kamigata. He excelled in large-scale tachimawari (stylized fight scenes 立回) and hayagawari (早替 "quick-change") techniques. His last ranking in the kabuki actor critique books in the first lunar month of 1827 in the Kamigata hyôbanki (actor critique), jitsuaku and katakiyaku section, was (shiro)ô-jô-jô-kichi ((white) grand - superior - superior - excellent). Ebijûrô I's last performance was actually at the Naka Theater, Osaka, playing four roles in the New Year "second-change" drama (ni-no-kawari 二の替り) "A Courtesan and Cherry Blossoms at Mount Aso" (Keisei Asoyama Zakura けいせい遊山櫻).
There are impressions of this print in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (11.35000) and the Ikeda Bunko Library, Osaka (大A112).
Design:
This is a memorial print for Ichikawa Ebijûrô I (1777-1827), shown in one of his big-hit roles.
The inscriptiosn in the background read:
A keepsake of a lifetime upon the stage / The bandit Tanseki — in life Tamashima Kôbei — Ichikawa Ebijûrô. Sixth day of the seventh month, Bunsei 10 (1827). Posthumous Buddhist name: Ranyû Shûzan Shinji. Aged fifty-one years
Death poem: With the farewell fires / I fade away — / setting out upon the final journey.
— Shinshō
Shôgai butai no/ nagori Tôzoku Tanseki / jitsu wa Tamashima Kôbei — / Ichikawa Ebijûrô / Bunsei jû-nen shichigatsu jûroku-nichi / Ranyû Shûzan Shinji / Gyônen gojûichi-sai
Jisei:
Okuribi to / tomo ni kieyuku / tabiji kana
Shinshô
「生涯舞台之名残」「盗賊丹せき実は玉島幸兵衛 市川鰕十郎」「文政拾歳七月十六日 蘭有秀山信士 行年五十一歳」「辞世 送り火とともに消行旅路かな 新升」「生涯舞台之名残」「盗賊丹せき実は玉島幸兵衛 市川鰕十郎」「文政拾歳七月十六日 蘭有秀山信士 行年五十一歳」「辞世 送り火とともに消行旅路かな 新升」
References: IBKYS-I, no. 269
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