Skip to main content
Want more images or videos?
Request additional images or videos from the seller
1 of 5

Hiroshi Watanabe
Eri Tanaka, Tono Kabuki

2003

$1,250
£955.69
€1,100.76
CA$1,751.63
A$1,955.53
CHF 1,024.67
MX$23,937.65
NOK 13,013.32
SEK 12,269.91
DKK 8,215.11
Shipping
Retrieving quote...
The 1stDibs Promise:
Authenticity Guarantee,
Money-Back Guarantee,
24-Hour Cancellation

About the Item

Those Kabuki players you see in my photographs are not with the mainstream Kabuki companies in Tokyo. They are with localized small groups located in various parts of Japan. They are not professional actors in a sense, as they don’t get paid for their plays. They actually spend quite a lot of their own money to be in the plays. Kabuki is known for lavish make-up, costumes, and stage set-ups. As such, those who want to be in the plays must be committed and prepared. They spend their time and money because of their love for being in the theater—attention they get, pride, prestige, and joy of being part of their tradition. One such company is based in a town called Nakatsugawa. The town is cozily nested at the foot of Japan Alps Mountains. It was situated at the halfway point between Tokyo and Kyoto of the old main road called Nakasendo in Edo era, and because of this strategic location, it flourished as a trading post about three hundred years ago. The town became rich, but had no cultures as they are away from big cities. They had to wait for Kabuki Company to arrive, which comes only once a year. Being tired of waiting, they finally decided to do Kabuki by themselves. They built a theater and hired make-up artists, costumers, and stage craftsmen from Kyoto just for themselves, and they started to play their favorite stories. Thus it became their tradition. I believe good portraits are the ones that show the characters and personality of the subjects--their human beings. I find it a difficult task, as people are so well educated about photographs nowadays. People know how to pose, how to make impressions, and how to look good, and hardly reveal what they really are. Those Kabuki players are also hidden in heavy make-up and wardrobes in a made-up world. But when they sit in front of my camera between plays, they are so much saturated (and worried) in their roles, that they pay very little attention to my existence. They are struck with stage fright and they repeat their lines over and over as I photograph. Remember this is not what they do everyday. On the other hand, they are not afraid of me, or of anyone else, as their faces are shielded by the heavy make-ups. They can be themselves without worrying about other people, as if they were in the masquerade. They feel that no one knows who he or she really is, or at least people know that they were in a fictional world. At those moments, they are much closer to me.
  • Creator:
    Hiroshi Watanabe (1951, Japanese)
  • Creation Year:
    2003
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 10 in (25.4 cm)Width: 10 in (25.4 cm)
  • Medium:
  • Movement & Style:
  • Period:
  • Framing:
    Framing Options Available
  • Condition:
  • Gallery Location:
    Sante Fe, NM
  • Reference Number:
    1stDibs: LU134210492862

More From This Seller

View All
Mari Ito as Osato, Tono Kabuki
By Hiroshi Watanabe
Located in Sante Fe, NM
Those Kabuki players you see in my photographs are not with the mainstream Kabuki companies in Tokyo. They are with localized small groups located in various parts of Japan. They are...
Category

Early 2000s Contemporary Black and White Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Natsuki Tukamoto, Matsuo Kabuki
By Hiroshi Watanabe
Located in Sante Fe, NM
Those Kabuki players you see in my photographs are not with the mainstream Kabuki companies in Tokyo. They are with localized small groups located in various parts of Japan. They are...
Category

Early 2000s Contemporary Black and White Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Yuki Nonaka, Matsuo Kabuki
By Hiroshi Watanabe
Located in Sante Fe, NM
Those Kabuki players you see in my photographs are not with the mainstream Kabuki companies in Tokyo. They are with localized small groups located in various parts of Japan. They are...
Category

Early 2000s Contemporary Black and White Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Mari Ito as Omitsu 1, Nakatsugawa Kabuki
By Hiroshi Watanabe
Located in Sante Fe, NM
Those Kabuki players you see in my photographs are not with the mainstream Kabuki companies in Tokyo. They are with localized small groups located in various parts of Japan. They are...
Category

Early 2000s Contemporary Black and White Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Chikako Suga, Matsuo Kabuki
By Hiroshi Watanabe
Located in Sante Fe, NM
Those Kabuki players you see in my photographs are not with the mainstream Kabuki companies in Tokyo. They are with localized small groups located in various parts of Japan. They are...
Category

Early 2000s Contemporary Black and White Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Yuki Nonaka, Matsuo Kabuki
By Hiroshi Watanabe
Located in Sante Fe, NM
My photographs reflect both genuine interest in my subject as well as a respect for the element of serendipity. I strive for both calculation and discovery in my work, studying my su...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Black and White Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

You May Also Like

Japanese Woman
Located in Santa Monica, CA
Vintage Albumen print
Category

Late 19th Century Portrait Photography

Onna-Oyabun
Located in New York, NY
“Ink Stories”, which was introduced at Nyari’s very first solo gallery exhibit, consists of large-scale nude photographs that explore the concept of self-identity and female empowerm...
Category

2010s Photorealist Black and White Photography

Materials

Photographic Film, Archival Ink, Archival Paper, Photographic Paper, Pho...

Onna-Oyabun
Price Upon Request
69YK #3 – Nobuyoshi Araki, Japanese Photography, Nude, Black and White, Art
By Nobuyoshi Araki
Located in Zurich, CH
Nobuyoshi ARAKI (*1940, Japan) 69YK #3, 2009 Gelatin silver print 50.8 x 60 cm (20 x 23 5/8 in.) Print only Nobuyoshi Araki (Tokyo, 1940) is a Tokyo-based photographer. Araki compl...
Category

Early 2000s Contemporary Black and White Photography

Materials

Black and White, Silver Gelatin

69YK #41 – Nobuyoshi Araki, Japanese Photography, Nude, Black and White, Art
By Nobuyoshi Araki
Located in Zurich, CH
Nobuyoshi ARAKI (*1940, Japan) 69YK #41, 2009 Gelatin silver print 50.8 x 60 cm (20 x 23 5/8 in.) Print only Nobuyoshi Araki (Tokyo, 1940) is a Tokyo-based photographer. Araki completed his studies at Chiba University’s Department of Photography, Painting and Engineering with a focus on the study of film and photography. His photographic project Satchin earned him the prestigious Taiyo Award in 1964, shortly after he had joined the advertising agency Dentsu, where he worked until 1972. At Dentsu he met his wife Yoko, to whom he paid homage in Sentimental Journey, a photographic record of their honeymoon published in 1971. Eros and thanatos (sex and death) has been a central theme in Araki’s work; an abiding fascination with female genitalia and women’s bodies in Japanese bondage...
Category

Early 2000s Contemporary Nude Photography

Materials

Black and White, Silver Gelatin

69YK #15 – Nobuyoshi Araki, Japanese Photography, Nude, Black and White, Art
By Nobuyoshi Araki
Located in Zurich, CH
Nobuyoshi ARAKI (*1940, Japan) 69YK #15, 2009 Gelatin silver print 50.8 x 60 cm (20 x 23 5/8 in.) Print only Nobuyoshi Araki (Tokyo, 1940) is a Tokyo-based photographer. Araki completed his studies at Chiba University’s Department of Photography, Painting and Engineering with a focus on the study of film and photography. His photographic project Satchin earned him the prestigious Taiyo Award in 1964, shortly after he had joined the advertising agency Dentsu, where he worked until 1972. At Dentsu he met his wife Yoko, to whom he paid homage in Sentimental Journey, a photographic record of their honeymoon published in 1971. Eros and thanatos (sex and death) has been a central theme in Araki’s work; an abiding fascination with female genitalia and women’s bodies in Japanese bondage...
Category

Early 2000s Contemporary Nude Photography

Materials

Black and White, Silver Gelatin

From the series 'PaINting'
By Nobuyoshi Araki
Located in Zurich, CH
Nobuyoshi ARAKI (*1940, Japan) From the series 'PalNting', 2010 Acrylic on B/W photography 43.2 x 35.6 cm (17 x 14 in.) Unique Print only Nobuyoshi Araki is a contemporary Japanese ...
Category

2010s Contemporary Black and White Photography

Materials

Acrylic, Black and White