Shini-e

Shini-e of Kunisada by Kunichika, 1864

Shini-e (死絵, "Memorial prints"), also called "death pictures" or "death portraits", are Japanese woodblock prints,^[1] particularly those done in the ukiyo-e style popular through the Edo period (1603–1867) and into the beginnings of the 20th century

When a kabuki actor died, memorial portraits shini-e were conventionally published with his farewell poem and posthumous name.^[2]

Memorial portraits were created by ukiyo-e artists to honor a colleague or former teacher who had died.

Gallery

• 

  Hiroshige by Kunisada, 1858

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  Kunisada by Toyohara Kunichika, 1864

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  Iwai Hanshirō VIII, by Toyohara Chikanobu 1882

See also

• List of ukiyo-e terms

Notes

1. Takeuchi, Melinda. (2005). "Shini-e (Memorial Pictures)," in The Hotei Encyclopedia of Japanese Woodblock Prints, p. 594.
2. Keyes, Roger et al. (1973). The Theatrical World of Osaka Prints, p. 320; Chin, Connie and Melinda Takeuchi. "Actors' Death Prints: Discovery of a New Genre." Horizons (Center for East Asian Studies, Stanford University) Fall 2005, p. 7.

References

• Keyes, Roger S. and Keiko Mizushima. (1973). The Theatrical World of Osaka Prints: a Collection of Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century Japanese woodblock Prints in the Philadelphia Museum of Art.Philadelphia: Philadelphia Museum of Art. OCLC 186356770
• Newland, Amy Reigle. (2005). The Hotei Encyclopedia of Japanese Woodblock Prints. Amsterdam : Hotei. ISBN 9789074822657; OCLC 61666175

External links

• Viewing shini-e
• "Shini-e: the Performance of Death in Japanese Kabuki Actor Prints"
• Kuniyoshi project: Shini-e