The actor Nakamura Utaemon III as the bandit Ishikawa Goemon

豊川よし国筆 石川五右門

This is an example of an Osaka Kabuki print, so called because such prints were produced in the city of Osaka. It depicts a scene of a favorite actor in one of the Kabuki theaters located there. Ishikawa Goemon was a famous bandit and rebel whose story became popular in the late 1500s. Eventually he was captured, however, and he is said to have been boiled in a tub at Sanjogawara in the dry bed of Kyoto's Kamo River.

Here, Goemon is depicted as a court official gesturing in amusement. It is difficult to determine from which play this episode comes.

Print format: oban
Publisher: Honsei