Shinsui's extensive oeuvre spans bijin-ga, landscapes, and genre subjects. Auction averages over 12 months reflect healthy collector demand across all subject types.
Dojoji, one of the most dramatic noh and kabuki plays in the Japanese repertoire, involves a female character (Shirabyoshi dancer Hanako) whose passionate attachment to a monk leads her to transform into a serpent and attack the bell of the title temple. Shinsui's depiction likely shows the famous "bell drop" moment when the dancer draws the temple bell down over herself in a gesture of obsessive possession—a moment of psychological intensity that gave him an unusual subject for his typically quiet figure work. The kabuki version of Dojoji features spectacular wig-shaking and acrobatic movement.
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
Döjöji was created by Ito Shinsui (伊東深水).
Döjöji was published by Watanabe Shozaburo.
Döjöji depicts figures, kabuki, and mythology.
