Moronobu School: 'Scene at Kabuki Theatre in Edo', a six-fold screen, hand-painted colours on paper and gold-leaf, Japanese, 1685-90

The right-hand panels of this screen show in great detail the front of the Nakamura-za, a major Kabuki theatre in Edo, while the left-hand panels depict the stage and the audience. Since the figures are characteristic of the style of Hishikawa Moronobu, this can be considered to be a painting either by Moronobu himself or by an artist of the Moronobu School (also called the Hishikawa School). A comparison with other similar screens in the Moronobu style leads us to believe that this screen was originally one of a pair. On the curtain stretched round the small tower on the roof of the theatre is a picture of a crane within a circle, the crest (mon) of the theatre. This crest also decorates the pale blue curtains hanging across the theatre entrance. On the left-hand side of the screen, seated at the right on the stage is a feudal lord (daimyo) wearing a tall lacquered hat and a robe decorated with large crests, and accompanied by a sword-bearer. The dancing figures are actors. The musicians are seated at the back of the stage in the same position as musicians in Noh theatre, evidence of Kabuki's early debt to Noh. The audience sits before the stage, flanked on the left and right by seats for the nobility. This painting is particularly interesting for the information it reveals about early kabuki theatre just before the introduction of the walkway (hanamichi), when the stage still had the same layout as that of the Noh theatre.

Purchased from a source not recorded in the Asia Department registers, accessioned in 1903. This acquisition information reflects that found in the Asia Department registers, as part of a 2022 provenance research project.

The right-hand panels of this six-fold screen show in great detail the front of the Nakamura-za, a major Kabuki theatre in Edo, modern-day Tokyo, while the left-hand panels depict the stage and the audience. Since the figures are characteristic of the style of Hishikawa Moronobu, this is considered to be a painting either by Moronobu himself or by an artist of the Moronobu School (also called the Hishikawa School). A comparison with other similar screens in the Moronobu style suggests that it was originally one of a pair. This painting is particularly interesting for the information it reveals about early Kabuki theatre just before the introduction of the hanamichi (walkway), when the stage still had the same design as that for Noh theatre.

319-1903