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The Actor Iwai Kumetaro as the Kamuro Tayori from the Shimbara District in Kyoto in Modorikago Nori no Shigayama, a Dance Play Performed as a Memorial to Nakamura Nakazo I at the Kiri Theater
The Actor Iwai Kumetaro as the Kamuro Tayori from the Shimbara District in Kyoto in Modorikago Nori no Shigayama, a Dance Play Performed as a Memorial to Nakamura Nakazo I at the Kiri Theater

The Actor Iwai Kumetaro as the Kamuro Tayori from the Shimbara District in Kyoto in Modorikago Nori no Shigayama, a Dance Play Performed as a Memorial to Nakamura Nakazo I at the Kiri Theater

Artist/Maker (Japanese, 1773–1810)
Date1796
MediumColor woodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper
DimensionsVertical ōban; overall: 13 13/16 × 9 5/8 in. (35.1 × 24.5 cm)
Credit LineMary A. Ainsworth Bequest
Object number1950.473
Status
Not on view
More Information
Here, the actor Iwai Kumesaburō performed the role of a kamuro, a little girl attendant to a courtesan, often in training to become a courtesan herself. The play was Modorikago nori no Shigayama, performed in 1796 at the Kiri Theater. Set in Kyoto, it includes a scene in which the kamuro is carried home in a sedan chair by two bearers who engage in a debate over the relative merits of Edo, Kyoto, and Osaka, a dialogue that later became quite famous. The artist Kunimasa, who reportedly studied under Utagawa Toyokuni, developed a passionate love for kabuki theater and worked on a large number of ōkubi-e portraits between 1795 and 1797.
Exhibition History
Masterpieces of Japanese Prints from the Mary A. Ainsworth Collection
  • Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin, OH (December 11, 1984 - January 27, 1985 )
Japanese Prints from the Mary A. Ainsworth Collection
  • Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin, OH (May 20, 1986 - July 20, 1986 )
Visions of Turmoil and Tranquility: Japanese Woodblock Prints from the Collection
  • Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin, OH (September 17, 2005 - December 23, 2005 )
Envisioning Edo's Splendor: The Floating World and Beyond
  • Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin, OH (February 3, 2009 - July 19, 2009 )
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