[Sumo Wrestlers of the] Eastern Section, Uzugafuchi and Onogawa

Katsukawa Shunshō was the first print artist to undertake the serious depiction of sumo wrestlers. This print is one of a set showing wrestlers from the Eastern and Western Sections, published between 1783 and 1784. Onogawa of Osaka, shown on the left, was one of the leading wrestlers of his day. Shunshō depicts him as a towering figure with white skin, a square, flat face and a focused, determined expression. He stands in contrast to the ruddy figure of Uzugafuchi, whose large angular face is shaded by a five-o’clock shadow. Both men wear colorful aprons over their bare bodies: Onogawa’s bears a linkedcircles pattern known as “linked pleasure quarters” (kuruwa tsunagi), and Uzugafuchi has dragons and flaming jewels amid clouds on his apron. The background, now faded to brown, was originally colored blue with fleeting dayflower pigment.