Tanikaze Kajinosuke

Description

Tanikaze Kajinosuke (1750–1795) was an extraordinary champion sumo wrestler who hailed from what is now Sendai, a city in northern Japan. Even at his death from influenza at age 44, he was dominating the ring and was one of the first to be given sumo’s highest rank, yokozuna (横綱), during his lifetime. In this print, Katsukawa Shunshō showed him as he may have appeared strolling the avenue, spied by his fans.

Provenance

(Yamanaka & Co., sold to Edward L. Whittemore); Edward L. Whittemore [1862–1930], Cleveland, OH, bequest to the Cleveland Museum of Art (?–1930); The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (1930–)

Tanikaze Kajinosuke

Katsukawa Shunshō

c. mid-1780s

Accession Number

1930.209

Medium

color woodblock print

Dimensions

Sheet: 37.8 x 17.6 cm (14 7/8 x 6 15/16 in.)

Classification

Print

Museum

The Cleveland Museum of Art

Cleveland, United States

Credit Line

Bequest of Edward L. Whittemore