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
Utagawa Kunimasa 歌川国政
(Japanese, 1773–1810)
Publisher
Uemura Yohei 上村与兵衛
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 viewHere, 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
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late 19th century
late 19th century
late 19th–early 20th century
late 19th century