Dancing Figure (Kamuro) 114/300

Numbered 114 from an edition of 300, this woodblock print depicts a kamuro — a young female attendant who served high-ranking courtesans (oiran) in the pleasure quarters of Edo-period Japan. The kamuro figure, typically portrayed as a child dressed in formal, elaborate kimono and wooden geta, occupied a specific and well-understood social role that carried strong visual associations in Japanese printmaking from the Edo period onward. Kawano brings this historical subject into the [sosaku-hanga](/glossary/sosaku-hanga) idiom: the figure is rendered with assertive hand-carved outlines and flat areas of vivid color rather than the nuanced gradation of traditional Edo-period [bijin-ga](/glossary/bijin-ga). The edition size of 300 was common for Kawano's commercially distributed prints, and the numbered impression establishes provenance and edition position. Printed on [washi](/glossary/washi) from hand-carved and hand-printed blocks.