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The Development of Facial Likeness in Kabuki Actor Prints

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The Development of Facial Likeness in Kabuki Actor Prints Article The development of facial likeness in kabuki actor prints Henk J. Herwig Introduction The growing popularity of kabuki as a plebeian pastime in the seventeenth century stimulated enterprising publishers to provide the market with woodblock printed text and pictures related to the world of kabuki. Halfway this century actor critiques (hyôbanki) and illustrated play books (kyôgen bon) were issued, while theatre managers began to commission posters (banzuke), advertising their performances. These works, printed in black ink only, were at first dominated by text but gradually more illustrations of kabuki scenes and actors were inserted. The actors were mostly represented as anonymous personalities, despite the fact that the hyôbanki often described and discussed in detail the specific physical beauty and charms of popular actors. In the Genroku period (1688-1704), when kabuki experienced its Golden Age, important developments took place. ew acting styles, such as aragoto, established in Edo by the actor Ichikawa Danjûrô I (1660-1704) and wagoto, initiated in Osaka by the actor Sakata Tôjrô (1647-1709) became popular, and talented scriptwriters, such as Chikamatsu Monzaemon (1653-1725) enriched the kabuki repertory with captivating new dramas. Artists of the Torii School, known for painting illustrated theatre billboards, started in about the same period to design pictures of kabuki actors that were printed with woodblocks. This was the beginning of a unique tradition, unequalled in any other part of the world, that would flourish for almost200 years. This article describes when and how the woodblock printed actor portrait changed in the course of time from anonymous stereotypical depictions into nigao-e in which the individual actor could easily be recognized.1 To facilitate an objective comparison between faces of actors, designed in different periods, digital redrawings were used. Materials and methods The actor portraits for this analysis come from various sources. Some were scanned from prints in our own collection or from prints illustrated in books and catalogues. Others were downloaded from museum databases available on the internet. The first step (Fig.1) to obtain redrawings of an actor’s face was by opening the digital files in Adobe Flash Professional CS5.2 Then the picture was modified so that the face was in an upright position facing to the left. Fig.1. Procedure to make a vector drawing from the face of an actor (Ichimura Uzaemon VIII designed by Torii Kiyomasu II in about 1741). a: Desital copy b: Standardizarion c: Tracing d:Vector drawing. From left to right: digital copy of the original print showing the actor Ichimura Uzaemon VIII designed by Torii Kiyomasu II in about 1741 face standardized tracing the lines vector drawing. 102 Article In all copies the magnification was adjusted to standardize the distance between the chin and the eyes. Subsequently the image was covered with a transparent layer to trace the black lines of the actor’s face. Distracting elements such as costume, wig, and facial make-up (kumadori) were ignored. Also the ears were usually ignored because frequently they are only partly visible. The tracings were made with the help of a pen tablet (Wacom, Bamboo Fun, CTH-661) in a contrasting colour, following the original lines as well as possible. The completed tracings, which can be compared to the work of the original carver, were vector drawings. Unlike JPEGs, GIFs, and BMP images, vector drawings do not consist of a grid of pixels. A vector drawing is a digital image defined through a sequence of mathematical statements that place lines and shapes in a given two-dimensional space. Each path may be assigned a specific line colour, shape, curve, thickness, or filling. The advantage of vector drawings is that they can be scaled, rotated or mirrored without losing detail. In addition, individual facial elements, such as eyes, nose or mouth can be removed from the drawn face for a better comparison with similar parts from other actor faces. Early actor portraits In 1700 an important picture book titled Fûryû ehon shihô byôbu (風流四方屏風, Elegant Picture Book: [Painted] Screens in All Directions) was published by Hangiya Shichirobei. It contained 43 single page sumizuri illustrations of leading actors designed by Torii Kiyonobu I (1664-1729), founder of the Torii School, which would dominate the market for actor prints in the first half of the eighteenth century. With this publication Kiyonobu established a style of drawing actors which would be followed closely by other artists of the Torii School. In examples from this book (Fig.2) it can be seen that Kiyonobu payed much attention to the poses and the costumes of the actors but that he designed the faces rather stereotypical so that it is not possible to identify the actors by their facial characteristics.3 We do know who they are because Kiyonobu provided each actor with his personal mon and name. Fig.2. Three actor prints selected from the Fûryû ehon Shihô byôbu. From left to right: Wakamura Sawanosuke as onnagata Yokoyama okurôji (aragoto acting style) Yoshikawa Tamon (wagoto acting style) When studying the faces in more detail (Fig.3) it can be noticed that the faces contain just enough features to be recognized as a face. 101 The development of facial likeness in kabuki actor prints Fig.3. Details and vector drawings of actor faces selected from Fûryû ehon Shihô byôbu. From left to right: Ikushima Daikichi as onnagata Wakamura Sawanosuke as onnagata Ikushima Shingorô (wagoto acting style) Murayama Shirôji (wagoto style acting) Curiously, the faces of the tachiyaku acting in the wagoto style, and the onnagata roles look almost identical, having both feminine pursed lips. The only difference is that the eyebrows of the tachiyaku usually point upwards, while they are arched downwards in faces of onnagata. In 1700 Kiyonobu also designed pictures of courtesans for a book titled Keisei ehon [傾城絵本, Illustrated Book of Courtesans].4 Comparing these pictures of courtesans with those of onnagata depicted in Fûryû yomo Shihô byôbu they all look alike, emphasizing that courtesans figure prominently in kabuki and that in these early pictures onnagata and courtesans were represented with archetypal faces reflecting the ideal of feminine beauty. Actors performing in the gentle wagoto style, who on stage speak and move in a refined and effeminate manner, are depicted with faces that are very similar to those of onnagata. Actors performing in the aragoto style have been depicted in dynamic agitated poses reflecting the exaggerated bombastic character of this acting style. Their faces are drawn with bulging eyes, a prominent nose with wide nostrils, and a distorted mouth with exposed teeth (Fig.4). By contrast to the faces of onnagata which are represented as icons of feminine beauty, the faces of actors acting in the aragoto style are represented as icons of mythical supermales. Fig.4. Details and vector drawings of actor faces from actors performing in the aragoto style selected from Fûryû ehon Shihô byôbu. From left to right: Ichikawa Danjrô Yokoyama okurôji. 100 Article When looking at actor prints published in the decennia following the publication of Fûryû ehon Shihô byôbu it can be noticed that the examples set by Kiyonobu were largely followed by other artists of this period (Fig.5).5 Fig.5. Examples of actor prints published in the first half of the 18th century. From left to right: Fujimura Handay II] by Torii Kiyonobu in ca 1715 Sawamura Sôjrô I by kumura Toshinobu in ca 1720 Sawamura Sôjrô I by ishimura Shigenobu in 1734 Ichimura Uzaemon VIII by Torii Kiyomasu II in ca 1741 Ichikawa Ebizô II by Torii Kiyomasa II in ca 1752 In the following decades minor changes took place in the portrayal of actor faces. From the 1730s actors performing in male roles were now frequently presented with a down-curved mouth, replacing the feminine pursed lips. In the 1740s the first bust portraits were designed which focus on the actor’s face, enabling artists to add more details such as a nostril. From about 1742 Torii Kiyoshige (act. 1716-64) started to design prints in which actors could be recognized by their nigao (Fig.6).6 Up till the 1760s he would continue to draw actor portraits with a distinct nigao (see Mutô Junko for other examples).7 Incidentally other examples of nigao-e can be found made by other artists such as Torii Kiyotsune (act. 1757-79) and Torii Kiyomitsu (1735-85), but up till the 1780s most artists of the Torii School designed predominantly anonymous actor portraits. Fig.6. Actor portraits with a nigao designed by Torii Kiyoshige. From left to right: Matsumoto Kôshirô II, ca 1742 Arashi Otohachi I, ca 1757 99 The development of facial likeness in kabuki actor prints From these observations it can be concluded that in the first half of the eighteenth century artists designed actors with rather simple stereotypical faces which could be singled out only on the basis of the three main acting styles: the onnagata, the wagoto and the aragoto. Within each category the actors could not be recognized as individuals. Consequently actors could only be identified by their personal crest (mon) or if their name was given on the print. As time passed by minor details were added to nose and mouth, but starting from the 1840s artists, in particular Torii Kiyoshige, designed actor faces of tachiyaku with a distinct nigao. This development might have been stimulated by the publishers of actor prints because many fans of kabuki visited the theatre not only for the quality of the play but to see their favourite actors perform on the stage. When they could buy nigao-e of their idols the sales would certainly rise.
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