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Shun’ei

1762–1819

Family name: Isoda. Given name: Kyūjirō. Art surname: Katsukawa. Art name: Kyūtokusai.

Born in 1762, Shun’ei was a student of Katsukawa Shunshō from whom he inherited the leadership of the Katsukawa school around 1800. Shun’ei followed his teacher and also specialized in actor prints. His earliest work dates from 1778 but the majority of his oeuvre dates from the late 1780s to the late 1790s. He designed only a few series but being the leading Katsukawa artist in the 1790s, his individual actor prints may have had some influence on Sharaku and Toyokuni. He illustrated the seven volume kabuki encyclopedia “Illustrated Guide to the Theatre” (Shibai kinmō zue). Shun’ei worked for over 20 publishers, foremost Nishimuraya Yohachi. Quite a number of Shun’ei’s actor prints are striking ōkubi-e (“large-head pictures”) that he created as early as 1791. In the fifth month of 1804, he was one of the artists who were manacled for fifty days for illustrating the events and identifiable figures from the Ehon Taikōki (Illustrated Chronicles of the Regent) in his prints.

Apart from actor prints he is also known for his prints of sumo wrestlers and heroic warriors. Shun’ei illustrated around fifty books that were published between 1782 and 1808. Furthermore, about a dozen paintings are known by him, some of erotic nature.

Shun’ei died on the 26th day of the 10th month 1819, aged 58. Amongst his most important students were Shuntei and Shunsen.

1791 The actors Ichikawa Ebizō as Shibuya Kon’ōmaru (Shibaraku) and Segawa Kikunojō III as Onaka (Uke) in the play Kinmenuki Genke no kakutsuba, Ichimura Theater, XI/1791. [Name-taking performance of Danjūrō V to Ebizō]. ōban. Unidentified publisher (Chū). Asian Art Museum, National Museums in Berlin.

1795 The actor Bandō Hikosaburō III as ōboshi Yuranosuke, from an untitled actor series from the play Kanadehon Chūshingura, Miyako Theater, IV/1795. ōban. Publisher: Iwatoya Kisaburō. Collection Peter Rieder.

1794 The sumo boy Daidōzan Bungorō, age 7. ōban. Publisher: Harimaya Shinshichi. Asian Art Museum, National Museums in Berlin.

early 1800s Kazusa Shichibei Kagekiyo. ōban. National Museum of Ethnology, Leiden, The Netherlands.

1791 The actor Ichikawa Ebizō as Yahei Hyōe Munekiyo in the play Kinmenuki Genke no kakutsuba, Ichimura Theater, XI/1791. ōban. Publisher: Uemura Yohei. Collection Peter Rieder.