The Fourth Ichikawa Danjuro as a Yakko (servant) seated upon a Large Cake of Mochi Prepared for the New Yer Celebration

Description

Katsukawa Shunshō gives Ichikawa Danjūrō IV’s servant role a playful setting atop an enormous pale cake of mochi. The actor’s vivid green patterned garments stand above the cylindrical rice-cake form, with a reddish structure below. The unusual seat turns a familiar New Year food into a stage for the figure’s elevated theatrical presence.

Dated 1772, the work was printed in ink and color on paper. The large rice cake introduces an element of scale and playful incongruity without requiring a complete story to explain it. Shunshō preserves a named performer within a distinctive assumed appearance, while the New Year association gives the scene a seasonal setting. The portrait invites attention to how an ordinary celebratory object can become an unexpected stage for a human figure.

Read our guide to giclée prints or browse the Katsukawa Shunshō collection.