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The Actors Sanogawa Ichimatsu and Segawa Kikunojō as Lovers

Artist/Maker (Japanese, 1711–1785)
Date1751–64
MediumWoodblock print (benizuri-e); ink and limited color on paper
DimensionsVertical ōban; overall: 16 7/8 × 10 9/16 in. (42.9 × 26.8 cm)
Credit LineMary A. Ainsworth Bequest
Object number1950.205
Status
Not on view
More Information
A young couple are seen walking under a shared umbrella. The young man (wakashū) on the left has slipped one hand from his kimono to place it near his cheek while his other hand holds the umbrella just below the young woman’s hand. On the left edge of the umbrella is the crest of the kabuki actor Segawa Kikunojō, featuring bundled silk floss (yuiwatamon); on the right is the circular crest with the character 同 of Sanogawa Ichimatsu. This is not an image of an actual scene from a play, but rather a dreamy, imagined pairing of the two stars at the height of their popularity, presented as if they are enacting a journey-scene (michiyuki) from a love-suicide play.
Exhibition History
Forty-eight Japanese Prints from the Mary A. Ainsworth Collection
  • University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN ( 1954-02 - 1954-02 )
  • University of the South, Sewannee, TN ( 1954-03 - 1954-03 )
Japanese Prints from the Ainsworth Collection
  • Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin, OH (September 18, 1979 - October 21, 1979 )
Japanese Prints from the Mary A. Ainsworth Collection
  • Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin, OH (May 20, 1986 - July 20, 1986 )
Ukiyo-e Prints from the Mary Ainsworth Collection
  • Chiba City Museum of Art, Chiba, Japan (April 13, 2019 - May 25, 2019 )
  • Shizuoka City Museum of Art, Shizuoka, Japan (June 8, 2019 - July 28, 2019 )
  • Osaka City Museum of Fine Arts, Osaka, Japan (August 10, 2019 - September 29, 2019 )
Ukiyo-e Prints from the Mary Ainsworth Collection
  • Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin, OH (January 14, 2020 - December 6, 2020 )
Collections
  • Asian