Marking the Accession to the Name of Ichikawa Danjuro IX and the Reestablishment of the Kawarasaki Theater

As the fifth son of the Danjürö line, Ichikawa carved out a successful career in the capital city of Edo (modern-day Tokyo) and elsewhere in Japan under the stage name Kawarasaki Gonnosuke. At 37, he decided to rebuild the dormant Kawasaki Theater, one of the three great Kabuki theaters of Edo, and take the name of Ichikawa Danjürö, twenty years after his elder brother Danjürö VIII had shocked the Kabuki world by committing suicide and effectively ending the family name.

Made at a pivotal time in the fortunes of the Ichikawa Danjürö family line, this print is a remarkable work of art and a rich historical document, as it alludes to Ichikawa’s accession to the most prestigious title in Kabuki, his ambitions to recreate one of the leading theaters of the capital city, and his partial failure in this endeavor.

On a red carpet in the center of the print are twelve famous theater props used in Kabuki plays associated with the Ichikawa Danjürö lineage. They form the greater part of the so-called "eighteen plays of Kabuki," the canon of plays made famous by the family. The new theater is referred to in a half-hidden inscription on the large bronze bell in the center of the print: "Reconstructed in the year 2534, Meiji, 7th year [1874]." In words and images this surimono reconstructs the world of the Ichikawa Danjürö family and firmly places the ninth generation actor within that world.