Ichikawa Monnosuke II as Urabe Suetake, Onoe Matsusuke I as Usui Sadamitsu, and Nakamura Nakazo I as Watanabe no Tsuna in “The Four Heavenly Kings Costumed as the Night Watch”
Medium
triptych of color woodblock prints
Dimensions
31 × 14.5 cm
Classification
Department
Japanese Art
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Gift from J. H. Wade
Accession Number
1921.314
Rights
Public Domain
Tags
male
About this artwork
This triptych (a composition of three prints) shows actors portraying three of the four famed protectors of imperial regent Minamoto Yorimitsu (948?–1021). Collectively, they are known as his Shitennō (四天王), or “Four Heavenly Kings,” after the Buddhist deities who guard the four cardinal directions. The characters are indicated by the large house crests on their robes. The actor Onoe Matsusuke I’s identity is revealed by a fan with the ideograph matsu (松), or “pine,” tucked into his robe, just a...