Actor Bandô Mitsugorô III in Dance of Seven Changes, a Tetraptych (Shichi henge no uchi, yomai tsuzuki): as the courtesan Sakuragidayû (R), as Genta and a Rabbit (Usagi) (CR), as the Shirabyôshi Dancer Katsumi and Gobu no Mihozoemon (CL), and as Hesomura Osan and a Jolly Footman (Ukare yakko) (L)

「七変化の内　四枚つづき　さくら木太夫　坂東三津五郎」（三代目）　　「七へん化のうち　よまい続　源太　うさぎ　阪東三津五郎」（三代目）　　「七へん化之内　四枚続　しら拍子かつみ　五ぶのみほぞ右衛門　坂東三津五郎」（三代目）　　「七変化之内　四枚続　へそむらおさん　うかれ奴　坂東三津五郎」（三代目）

Ganjôsai Kunihiro (Japanese, active about 1815–1843)
Publisher: Tenmaya Kihei (Tenki) (Japanese)
Publisher: Sôshiya (Japanese)

Japanese

Edo period

1821 (Bunsei 4), 3rd month

Medium/Technique Woodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper

Dimensions Vertical ôban tetraptych; 37.6 x 102 cm (14 13/16 x 40 3/16 in.)

Credit Line William Sturgis Bigelow Collection

Accession Number11.36295a-d

NOT ON VIEW

CollectionsAsia, Prints and Drawings

ClassificationsPrints

Catalogue Raisonné Kitagawa, "Bosuton bijutsukan shozô Kamigata-e mokuroku" (Kansai daigaku, 2007), p. 90; Ikeda bunko, Kamigata yakusha-e shûsei, vol. 2 (1998), #015 (three of four sheets)

DescriptionMFA impressions: 11.36035-8, 11.36039 (later edition of right sheet),11.36295a-d

Play: Somemoyô Naniwa Miyage
Theater: Kado
染模様難波土産
角

Signed Kunihiro ga (on each sheet)
国広画

ProvenanceBy 1911, purchased by William Sturgis Bigelow (b. 1850–d. 1926), Boston [see note 1]; 1911, gift of Bigelow to the MFA. (Accession Date: January 19, 2005)

NOTES:
[1] Much of Bigelow's collection of Asian art was formed during his residence in Japan between 1882 and 1889, although he also made acquisitions in Europe and the United States. Bigelow deposited many of these objects at the MFA in 1890 before donating them to the Museum's collection at later dates.