158 works and sketches survive of the Japanese artist known only by the art name Tōshūsai Sharaku. Almost all were made over a ten-month period in 1794–1795, divided into four periods:

5th month of Kansei 6 (May–June 1794) – 28 ōban prints 7th and 8th months of Kansei 6 (July–September 1794) – 8 ōban and 30 hosoban prints 11th and intercalary 11th months of Kansei 6 (November 1794 – January 1795) – 47 hosoban, 13 aiban, and 4 ōban prints 1st month of Kansei 7 (February–March 1795) – 10 hosoban and 5 aiban prints

The print sizes became progressively smaller and the focus shifts from busts to full-length portraits. The depictions become less expressive and more conventional. Two picture calendars dating to as early as 1789 and three decorated fans as late as 1803 have been attributed to Sharaku, but have yet to be accepted as authentic works of his. A number of hanshita-e preparatory drawings have also been found.

Background

In Sharaku's time the Kawarazaki-za, the Kiri-za, and the Miyako-za were the three major kabuki theatre houses of Edo: the Edo San-za.

Just over 600 copies of Sharaku's prints are known; only about 100 remain in Japan. As they are in collections scattered throughout the world general research on Sharaku's works has followed different threads in Japan and the West has proved time-consuming. Japanese researchers have better knowledge of and access to documents and literature related to Sharaku's time and conditions. On the other hand, Sharaku's works tend to be in Western collections, including prints for which only one copy is known—of which there are about three dozen. Three of these are of unknown whereabouts, known only through published photographs. The largest Western collection is the 70 pieces at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 6 of which are unique; the Art Institute of Chicago (8 unique pieces), New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art, the British Museum, and the Guimet Museum in Paris also have substantial collections. In 1920, Kōjirō Matsukata bought a large number of ukiyo-e prints in Paris and brought them back to Japan. These 70 pieces reside at the Tokyo National Museum, 3 of which are unique.

The prints bear no titles, and descriptive titles vary in both Japanese and English. Amongst the variations in Japanese are the numbering for the generations of actors; for example, a second-generation actor's name might have nidai () or nidaime () prepended in some sources and nisei () in others, or the generation might be absent. The list here does not give variant titles, and the titles given are not official.

Print sizes

Sharaku's prints appeared in the common print sizes ōban, hosoban, and aiban. The approximate dimensions of these sizes are:

ōban – hosoban – aiban –

Periodization

Sharaku's prints are divided into four periods. The prints of the first two periods are signed "Tōshūsai Sharaku" (), and the latter two only

5th month of Kansei 6 – 28 ōban prints The 5th month of Kansei 6 fell from 29 May to 26 June 1794. 7th and 8th months of Kansei 6 – 8 ōban and 30 hosoban prints The 7th month of Kansei 6 fell from 27 July to 25 August 1794, and the eighth month from 26 August to 23 September 1794. 11th and intercalary 11th months of Kansei 6 – 47 hosoban, 13 aiban, and 4 ōban prints The 11th month of Kansei 6 fell from 23 November to 22 December 1794, and the intercalary 11th month from 23 December 1794 to 20 January 1795. 1st month of Kansei 7 – 10 hosoban and 5 aiban prints The 1st month of the 7th year of Kansei fell from 19 February to 20 March 1795.

The print sizes progressively became smaller and the focus shifts from busts to full-length portraits. The depictions become less expressive and more conventional. Two picture calendars dating to as early as 1789 and three decorated fans as late as 1803 have been attributed to Sharaku, but have yet to be accepted as authentic works of his.

First period

Sharaku's first period is made up of twenty-eight known prints, each in ōban size. They appeared in the 5th month of Kansei 6, which fell from 29 May to 26 June 1794. They depict actors in their rôles in the kabuki plays Hana-ayame Bunroku Soga, Katakiuchi Noriai-banashi, Koi Nyōbō Somewake Tazuna, and Yoshitsune Senbon-zakura.

Hana-ayame Bunroku Soga

Playwright Matsui Yūsuke's Hana-ayame Bunroku Soga (, "Blooming Iris, Soga of the Bunroku Era") is a kabuki adaptation of a true story of revenge, the early 18th-century in which the Ishii brothers Hanzō and Genzō spent 28 years to exact revenge on their father Uemon's murderer. The story enjoyed great popularity and had several theatrical adaptations.

The play débuted at the Miyako-za theatre in the 5th month of 6th year of Kansei. Many details of it are no longer known. Ishii Genzō tries to kill his enemy Fujikawa Mizuemon, who instead kills Genzō and his wife. The plot then follows Genzō's retainer Tanabe Bunzō and Genzō's orphaned son, who set off to exact revenge. Ōgishi Kurando plays a selfless, stately samurai who lends a hand, and Bunzō's retainer Sodesuke serves as comic relief. Hakujin Onayo's rôle is unknown, but it is thought she helps out with the revenge.

Ōtani Tokuji I as the manservant Sodesuke

Sodesuke is a faithful foot-man of the Ishii family. He is present in the first scene, arriving late to meet his master Ishii Hyōei () at a shrine in Hamamatsu in Tōtōmi Province. He witnesses a group including Fujikawa Mizuemon ambush and kill Hyōei before the shrine under cover of darkness. Sodesuke brings Hyōei's body to Hyōei's eldest son Genzō, in the middle of Genzō's wedding, and explains what has happened. Sharaku depicts a shockeded Sodesuke as he arrives at the scene of his master's murder.

18 copies are known of the ōban print of Ōtani Tokuji I (1756–1807) as the manservant Sodesuke ( ); one each are in the collections of the Tokyo National Museum, the Japan Ukiyo-e Museum, the Ukiyo-e Ōta Memorial Museum of Art, the Baur Foundation, the Museum of Asian Art, the British Museum, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the Brooklyn Museum, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Edoardo Chiossone Museum of Oriental Art, the Honolulu Museum of Art, the Harvard Art Museums, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and the Worcester Art Museum, and another is in a private collection.

Sakata Hangorō III as Fujikawa Mizuemon

The powerful Mizuemon, resentful at having lost a sword fight to his patron Ishii Hyōei, murders Hyōei and steals from him a secret book on Japanese swordsmanship. Hyōei's sons attempt revenge, but in the third act Mizuemon kills Hyōei's eldest son Genzō and his wife at the Abe River in neighbouring Suruga Province. Sharaku depicts Mizuemon at the scene of his murder of Genzō. The print pairs with the one of Bandō Mitsugorō II as Ishii Genzō.

13 copies are known of the ōban print of Sakata Hangorō III as Fujikawa Mizuemon ( ); one each are in the collections of the Tokyo National Museum, the Ukiyo-e Ōta Memorial Museum of Art, the Yamatane Museum, the Achenbach Foundation for Graphic Arts at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, the Rijksmuseum, the Galerie Berès, the British Museum, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Guimet Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Allen Memorial Art Museum, and a private collection.

Bandō Mitsugorō II as Ishii Genzō

When Ishii Genzō learns of the murder of his father in the middle of his wedding, he commits himself to revenge. He attacks the murderer Mizuemon's father in the second act, and in the third tries to kill Mizuemon at the Abe River in Suruga Province, but Mizuemon turns then table and kills Genzō and his wife. Sharaku depicts Genzō at his encounter with Mizuemon at the Abe River. The print pairs with the one of Sakata Hangorō III as Fujikawa Mizuemon.

9 copies of the ōban print of Bandō Mitsugorō II as Ishii Genzō ( ); one each are in the collections of the Tokyo National Museum, the Nara Prefectural Museum of Art, the Galerie Berès, the British Museum, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the Royal Museums of Art and History, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Guimet Museum, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Sanogawa Ichimatsu III as Hakujin Onayo of Gion and Ichikawa Tomiemon as Kanisaka Tōma

Tōma is one of Mizuemon's followers, and Onayo a prostitute of the Gion district. The print depicts the pair in the fourth act, when Tōma has fallen into such financial ruin that he takes on work as a gidayū reciter in bunraku puppet theatre. At this point, he becomes involved with Hakujin Onayo, a prostitute of the Gion district.

6 copies are known of the ōban print of Sanogawa Ichimatsu III as Hakujin Onayo of Gion and Ichikawa Tomiemon as Kanisaka Tōma ( ); one each are in the collections of the Tokyo National Museum, the Rijksmuseum, the Museum of Asian Art, the Royal Museums of Art and History, and the Art Institute of Chicago, and another is in a private collection.

Sanogawa Ichimatsu III as Hakujin Onayo of Gion

Hakujin Onayo is a prostitute of Gion, played by Ichimatsu, an onnagata—a male actor who performed female rôles. Her rôle in the narrative is unknown, but it is thought she helps out with the revenge. She may have played a rôle similar to that of Okaru in the Kanadehon Chūshingura; Okaru had herself sold into prostitution to raise funds a vendetta. She wears on her clothes the hiragana character "い" ("i") enclosed in a circle—the same mon crest the karō Ōgishi Kurando wears.

10 copies are known of the ōban print of Sanogawa Ichimatsu III as Hakujin Onayo of Gion ( ). One copy each are in the collections of the Tokyo National Museum, the Hiraki Ukiyo-e Foundation, the Achenbach Foundation for Graphic Arts at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, the British Museum, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the Royal Museums of Art and History, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Edoardo Chiossone Museum of Oriental Art, and the Guimet Museum; and one in a private collection.

Sawamura Sōjūrō III as Ōgishi Kurando

Ōgishi Kurando is the karō (house elder) of the Momoi daimyō family of Kameyama Castle and sympathizes with the Ishii brothers. He wears on his clothes a mon crest with the hiragana character "い" ("i") enclosed in a circle, for which Mizuemon mistakes him for a member of the Ishiis in the fifth act and attacks him at a teahouse in Gion. Kurando discovers that his attacker is Mizuemon, and that he has the secret book of swordsmanship. Kurando goes on to help the Ishii brothers get their revenge in the seventh act. Sharaku depicts Kurando at the teahouse in the fifth act.

11 copies are known of the ōban print of Sawamura Sōjūrō III as Ōgishi Kurando ( ); one each are in the collections of the Tokyo National Museum, the British Museum, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Honolulu Museum of Art, the Harvard Art Museums, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art; two are in the collection of the Guimet Museum; and two are in private collections.

Segawa Kikunojō III as Oshizu, wife of Tanabe Bunzō

Oshizu is the wife of the Ishii foot-soldier Tanabe Bunzō, who runs into financial ruin in faithful service to his masters. The print depicts Oshizu in the sixth act, as they struggle to repay a usurer and resort to prostituting their daughter Omitsu. She wraps her head in a yamai hachimaki (, "sickness headband"), a purple headband of silk crepe often worn in kabuki to indicate sickness. Above it a yellow comb decorates the hair. The kimono is white with a faded violet pattern, under which are green and rose garments, all bound with a black obi sash. The portrait is on a dark mica background, and mica is dusted on the collar.