Tōshūsai Sharaku

Japanese artist
Feedback
Corrections? Updates? Omissions? Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login).
Thank you for your feedback

Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article.

External Websites
Also known as: Saitō Jūrōbei, Sharaku
Quick Facts
Original name:
Saitō Jūrōbei
Pseudonym:
Sharaku
Flourished:
1794–95,, Japan
Flourished:
1794 - 1795
Movement / Style:
ukiyo-e

Tōshūsai Sharaku (flourished 1794–95, Japan) was one of the most original Japanese artists of the Ukiyo-e movement (paintings and prints of the “floating world”). Tōshūsai is said to have been a nō actor in Awa province (now Tokushima prefecture). His extant works consist of fewer than 160 prints, chiefly of actors. These prints of actors, especially the okubi-e, or half-length portraits, are striking for their intensity and for an exaggeration verging on caricature. Unlike other Ukiyo-e artists, Sharaku did not make idealized portraits but tried to penetrate the actors’ characters and to show them in poses revealing their ways of ...(100 of 163 words)