
1961
This is the actual picture signboard (ekanban) that hung outside Tokyo's Kabukiza Theater in September of 1961 to advertise the performance of the play Parent and Child Lantern (Oyako tōrō 親子燈篭). Displayed are the actors Nakamura Kanzaburō XVII (1909-1988) as the comedian Sakuragawa Hanroku 幇間桜川半六 and Nakamura Kankurō V (1955-2012) as his son Senkichi 伜仙吉. As in the play, the two actors are in real life also father and son. Ekanban very rarely survived after they were dismantled at the end of the month. Tadamasa was the foremost artist of kabuki imagery from around 1940 until his death in 1970.