In this [yakusha-e](/glossary/yakusha-e) [diptych](/glossary/diptych), Ippitsusai Buncho pairs two of the most admired performers of the late 1760s Edo stage: Arashi Sangoro II as the warlord Minamoto no Yoritomo and Segawa Kikunojo II as the supernatural Snow Woman in the kabuki play Myoto-giku Izu no Kisewata, or Cotton Wadding of Izu Protecting the Matrimonial Chrysanthemums. The play, set against the backdrop of Yoritomo's Izu exile, fuses historical romance with the yuki-onna folk tradition, in which a beautiful woman appears from the snow only to reveal her uncanny nature. Buncho seizes on this contrast to organize the print along an axis of warmth and cold: Sangoro's Yoritomo stands in a darker, patterned robe whose sleeves fall in heavy, sculptural folds, while Kikunojo's Snow Woman is rendered with the slimmer, more elongated silhouette that had made him the leading onnagata of his generation. The faces follow Buncho's quiet, observational manner, with finely drawn brows and a slight asymmetry around the eyes that suggests private feeling rather than declamatory stage emotion. As an Edo [ukiyo-e](/glossary/ukiyo-e) specialist working alongside Katsukawa Shunsho in the years around 1770, Buncho favored the [chuban](/glossary/chuban) actor sheet as a vehicle for likeness, and this composition shows his characteristic restraint in color and his preference for unornamented backgrounds. The Art Institute of Chicago's impression retains the close registration of robe patterns and the soft gradations of skin and hair that mark a strong early printing. Beyond its value as a portrait of two named performers, the sheet documents a specific Edo kabuki revival and contributes to our understanding of how yakusha-e mediated between commercial theater, supernatural narrative, and the broader visual culture of the Meiwa era.
1769
Color woodblock print; hosoban
c. 1772
Color woodblock print; hosoban
c. 1771
Color woodblock print; hosoban
About 1769
Color woodblock print; hosoban
Actors Arashi Sangorô II asMinamoto no Yoritomo and Segawa Kikunojô II as the Snow Woman in “Cotton Wadding of Izu Protecting the Matrimonial Chrysanthemums” (“Myôto- giku Izu no Kisewata”) was created by Ippitsusai Buncho (一筆斎文調) in About 1770.
Actors Arashi Sangorô II asMinamoto no Yoritomo and Segawa Kikunojô II as the Snow Woman in “Cotton Wadding of Izu Protecting the Matrimonial Chrysanthemums” (“Myôto- giku Izu no Kisewata”) depicts winter.
