Kōkei Tsuruya

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Kōkei Tsuruya (弦屋 光渓, Tsuruya Kōkei, born July 1946 in Chigasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture) is a contemporary Japanese woodblock print artist, best known for his Kabuki actor portraits. In 1985, art dealer Robert Sawers referred to him as a modern-day Sharaku because of the expressive quality of his actor prints.

Kōkei Tsuruya, whose real name is Gen Mitsui (三井 弦, Mitsui Gen), was born in 1946 in Chigasaki, Kanagawa, Japan. He grew up in Shinjuku, Tokyo. His father was a painter, and his grandfather was the Western-style painter and printmaker Hiromitsu Nakazawa (中澤 弘光), known for landscape series.

Kōkei studied at Waseda University and began working as a woodblock print artist after graduation. In 1978, he decided to focus on Yakusha-e (役者絵, "actor prints"), inspired by the Kabuki theater tradition. That same year, he exhibited his works at the Kabuki-za Theatre Gallery, launching his career in woodblock printing. Kōkei would sketch scenes during rehearsals and early performances at Kabuki-za, then produce woodblock prints within 10–15 days so they could be sold during the second half of the 25-day performances. The audience would purchase the prints on-site.^[1] He continued this practice until 2000, creating over 200 works during that period.

He gained international recognition and participated in numerous exhibitions, including at the British Museum (UK), the USC Pacific Asia Museum (USA), and the Redfern Gallery (London). Many of his prints are held in major collections.

From 2003 onward, Kōkei lived in Atami in Shizuoka Prefecture, where he began a series of self-portraits known as Loneliness, marking a departure from his Kabuki actor prints. In the later years of his career, he created the series Five Styles of Banzai Ukiyo-e, in which he portrayed classic Ukiyo-e artists such as Hokusai, Hiroshige, Kuniyoshi, Kunisada, and Yoshitoshi.

Kōkei Tsuruya is known for his expressive Kabuki prints that capture the drama and emotion of the performers. His most notable series include Kabuki Actor Prints and Five Subjects Dedicated to Arcimboldo.

A complete list of works with illustrations is available on the artist's website.

Notable exhibitions include:^[1]

• 1990: Japanese Art to celebrate the opening of the Japanese Gallery, British Museum
• 1994: Modern Japanese Prints, 1912-1989: Woodblocks and Stencils at the British Museum
• 2000: Collection of the Actor Prints by Tsuruya Kōkei: The Complete Woodblock Prints at the Hiraki Ukiyo-e Museum, Yokohama
• 2011: Tsuruya Kōkei: Actor Woodblock Prints at the Bunkamura Gallery, Tokyo
• 2013: Exhibition of Tsuruya Kōkei at the Citizens Gallery, Sakura City Museum of Art, Chiba Prefecture
• 2019: Tsuruya Kōkei: Modern Kabuki Prints Revised & Revisited, USC Pacific Asia Museum

• Hiraki Ukiyo-e Foundation. Tsuruya Kokei: The Complete Woodblock Prints (2000)
• Kabuki-za (Theatre), Tokyo (ed.), Tsuruya Kokei: Kabuki Actor Prints (1988) Shochiku Co.
• Smith, Lawrence; Harris, Victor; Clark, Timothy. Japanese Art: Masterpieces in the British Museum (1990), British Museum Press
• Smith, Lawrence. Modern Japanese Prints 1912–1989: Woodblocks and Stencils (1994), British Museum Press, p. 37 and nos 139-40.

• Official website of Tsuruya Kōkei
• British Museum Collection: Tsuruya Kōkei
• Tsuruya Kōkei at Yamada Shoten