Kabuki Actor Onoe Kikugorō III as the Spirit of the Courtesan Yonakishii
- Date:
- 1841
- Medium:
- Woodblock print; ink and color on paper; vertical ōban
- Source:
- Metropolitan Museum of Art
Description
This 1841 Metropolitan Museum of Art vertical oban print by Hasegawa Sadanobu I documents an Osaka performance by the visiting Edo star Onoe Kikugoro III in the role of the ghost of the courtesan Yonakishii — a supernatural female role that demonstrated the actor's celebrated skill in onnagata (female-role) and ghostly transformations. The vertical oban format, larger than Sadanobu's typical Osaka chuban prints, reflects the increased status of an Edo-Osaka cross-regional kabuki star appearance and the willingness of Osaka publishers to deploy the larger sheet size for such culturally significant events. Onoe Kikugoro III's tours to Osaka were major theatrical events, and Sadanobu's portrait captures the actor's spectral makeup and the disheveled costume conventions associated with vengeful female ghost roles in late-Edo kabuki. Acquired in 2011 as accession 2011.141, the print represents an important documentary record of Edo-Osaka theatrical exchange in the year before the Tempo Reforms suppressed actor prints.
More Prints by Hasegawa Sadanobu I
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Featured in Collections
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
Frequently Asked Questions
Kabuki Actor Onoe Kikugorō III as the Spirit of the Courtesan Yonakishii was created by Hasegawa Sadanobu I (長谷川貞信) in 1841.
Kabuki Actor Onoe Kikugorō III as the Spirit of the Courtesan Yonakishii depicts landscapes.