Natori Shunsen (Japan, 1886-1960) Print, dai oban tatae-e, yakusha-e, Shodai Nakamura Ganjirō no Kamiya Jihei (初代中村鴈治郎の紙屋治兵衛), Nakamura Ganjirō I as Kamiya Jihei [in the play Shinjū ten no Amijima]. Signed Shunsen and artist's leaf stamp. Publisher Watanabe Shōzaburō and stamp. 1916. Micaceous background. Size 51.4 x 25 cm The production of this print in 1916 marked the beginning of a long and fruitful collaboration between Shunsen and publisher Watanabe Shōzaburō. Watanabe noticed Shunsen's painting at the second Gekiga tenrankai (Exhibition of pictures on the theme of theatre). He then asked him to reproduce it using the printmaking technique. In an unusual format, Shunsen depicts Kabuki star Nakamura Ganjiro I (1860-1935) as Kamiya Jihei, one of his most memorable roles. In In Shinjū ten no Amijima (Love Suicides in Amijima), the famous play by Chikamatsu Monzaemon (1654-1725), Jihei is caught in a love triangle, torn between his sense of duty to his family and his mistress Koharu. As the title suggests, he and his lover are looking for a way to commit suicide together. Reference: This print is reproduced in: Uhlenbeck, Dwinger, Ouweleen, Shin hanga: Les Estampes Modernes du Japon 1900-1960, Éditions Hazan (2022), p. 127 A similar print in the Smithsonian Institute, Washington, accession no. S2003.8.1546