Tōshūsai Sharaku

Ōtani Oniji III in the Role of the Servant Edobei, nishiki-e colour print, 1794

Tōshūsai Sharaku (active period - 1794 - 1795) was a Japanese ukiyo-e print designer. He depicted the Kabuki actors on woodblock prints. The dates of his birth and his death are not known. His works consist of fewer than 160 prints, chiefly of actors. They are very dynamic, with unflattering details. He became popular when his works appeared in Europe.

After 1795 Sharaku quit his career and suddenly disappeared. Nodoby knows the exact circumstances.

Style

Sharaku characters have facial expression. Sharaku focused on the actor's psychology.

Tōshūsai Sharaku Media

• 

  Ichikawa Monnosuke II as Soga no Gorō (1789) by Shunkō, a pioneer in ōkubi yakusha-e head portraits of actors

• 

  Sharaku's Ichikawa Ebizō IV appears on a kite on a page of Jippensha Ikku's Shotōzan Tenarai Hōjō (1796)

• 

  Arashi Ryūzō I as Ishibe Kinkichi (1794) set a record price for an ukiyo-e print sold at auction.