Kabukidō Enkyō-The Daily Ledger

Kabukidō Enkyō (,ōEnkyō fl. ) was a Japanese artist who designed ukiyo-e woodblock prints. Nothing is known of Enkyō's life, and only seven of his works are known, all of which are ōkubi yakusha-e, bust portrait prints of kabuki actors. Scholars divide them into two groups based on differences in the signatures, and the second group appears to be a set, as the prints depict three brothers from the same play. Enkyō's identity has been subject to speculation: a student of Sharaku's, even Sharaku himself, or a kyōgen playwright.

Background

Ukiyo-e art flourished in Japan during the Edo period from the 17th to 19th centuries. Its subjects were of the courtesans, kabuki actors, and others associated with the ukiyo hedonistic "floating world" lifestyle of the pleasure districts. Mass-produced woodblock prints were a major form of the genre. After the mid-18th century, full-colour prints became common, printed with a large number of woodblocks, one for each colour. Shunshō of the Katsukawa school introduced the ōkubi-e "large-headed picture" in the 1760s. He and his school soon popularized ōkubi yakusha-e, prints of actors from kabuki, a flamboyant theatrical form that enjoyed popularity with the masses.

Kabukidō Enkyō

The enigmatic print designer Sharaku's works are amongst ukiyo-e's best known. They began to appear suddenly in 1794. Sharaku introduced a greater level of realism into his yakusha-e prints that emphasized the differences between the actor and the portrayed character. The expressive, contorted faces he depicted contrasted sharply with the serene, mask-like faces more common to artists such as Harunobu or Utamaro. Sharaku's work found resistance, and in 1795 his output ceased as mysteriously as it had appeared; his identity is still unknown. Kabukidō Enkyō's ōkubi yakusha-e appeared sixteen months after Sharaku's work ceased. Nothing is known of Enkyō's life or identity beyond the bare fact that he flourished as an artist in Japan at the end of the eighteenth century.

Kabukidō Enkyō

Works

Enkyō appears not to have been a prolific artist. Seven portraits were confirmed as Enkyō's in the early 20th century, and no further works have been discovered. The ōban-size yakusha-e woodblock print portraits of kabuki actors are all ōkubi-e bust portraits dated to . None bear a publisher's seal. Scholars divide them into two groups based on differences in the artist's seal.

Kabukidō Enkyō

First group

The first group bears the seal "Kabukidō Enkyō Ga" (, "drawn by Kabukidō Enkyō") and is made up of:

Ichikawa Omezō I ( ) Ichikawa Yaozō III ( ) Sawamura Sōjūrō III ( ) Nakayama Tomisaburō I ( ).

Ichikawa Omezō I portrays a character from the kabuki play Sumida no Haru Geisha Katagi (1796). Enkyō's depiction of the warrior-like character invites comparison to Sharaku's portrait of the same, though they achieve different effects. Sharaku's has greater depth of expression, while Enkyō's simpler, more greatly exaggerated depiction with larger eyebrows leaves a strong immediate expression. Enkyō gives his Omezō a facetious expression and delineates his rounder features with a milder line. He colours the irises with thinned sumi ink, a technique Enkyō may have borrowed from Shun'ei, Toyokuni, and Kunimasa, who had introduced it about that time. Evidence of the effort put into the design can be inferred from other fine details such as touches of red on the earlobes and the colouring on the shaved part of the forehead.

It has been suggested the Ichikawa Yaozō III portrait is of a key character in the play Katakiuchi Noriyaibanashi (1794). It uses thinned ink to colour the irises, and the composition appears to bear the influence of Sharaku in its attempt at greater realism. The positioning of Enkyō's Nakayama Tomisaburō I, with the actor's hand on his collar, bears strong resemblance to Sharaku's version in the role of Miyagino from Katakiuchi Noriyaibanashi, suggesting Enkyō likely used Sharaku's print as a reference.