Memorial Portrait of the Actor Ichikawa Danjuro VIII 1854

This woodblock print, by an anonymous artist, memorializes the actor Ichikawa Danjuro the Eighth. It presents us with the conventions of Japanese portraiture in the 19th century, but also with a glimpse into the complex social rituals surrounding death. The print was made in 1854, a year after Ichikawa Danjuro's suicide. Its inscription connects the actor to the Buddhist temple, Sobakuin, where memorial services were held, making it a public declaration of mourning. Kabuki theatre had complex ties to the ruling Tokugawa Shogunate, and the performance of grief was part of this institutional network. The actor is depicted in costume, and shown writing a death poem, reflecting the tradition of honouring someone’s final moments. The poems printed on the sheet above may be associated with his death. To understand this print fully we need to look more at the Kabuki world, and the social context of death in 19th century Japan, consulting sources such as theatre programmes, biographies, and religious texts.