Döjöji

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.