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The Actor Segawa Kikunojo III as the Dragon Maiden Disguised as Osaku in the Play Sayo no Nakayama Hiiki no Tsurigane, Performed at the Nakamura Theater in the Eleventh Month, 1790 by Katsukawa Shun'ei — Japanese Color woodblock print; hosoban, c. 1790

The Actor Segawa Kikunojo III as the Dragon Maiden Disguised as Osaku in the Play Sayo no Nakayama Hiiki no Tsurigane, Performed at the Nakamura Theater in the Eleventh Month, 1790

by Katsukawa Shun'ei

Ukiyo-e
Date:
c. 1790
Medium:
Color woodblock print; hosoban

Description

Dragon-maiden roles — supernatural female figures from the sea kingdom of the dragon king — gave onnagata performers an opportunity to register an otherworldly mode of femininity inflected by transformative magic. This hosoban print in the Art Institute of Chicago, dated to about 1790, shows Segawa Kikunojō III in just such a role: the Dragon Maiden disguised as the human Osaku, in the eleventh-month Nakamura Theater production of Sayo no Nakayama Hiiki no Tsurigane. Shun'ei renders Kikunojō with the precisely individualized facial features that the Katsukawa school had built into its house style, and the costume carries the subtle indicators of the role's mythic underlayer. Like many late-Tenmei and early-Kansei prints, the image documents a single specific evening's production with archival exactness — theater, month, year, role, actor — while also functioning as an aesthetic object capable of holding the viewer's attention well beyond its commercial moment.

More Prints by Katsukawa Shun'ei

Actor Sawamura Sôjûrô III as Oda Kazusanosuke Harunaga in “Muromacho Chronicle in Kana Script” (“Kanagaki Muromachi bundan”) by Katsukawa Shun'ei

Actor Sawamura Sôjûrô III as Oda Kazusanosuke Harunaga in “Muromacho Chronicle in Kana Script” (“Kanagaki Muromachi bundan”)

About 1791

Color woodblock print; hosoban triptych

Act Four: Enya Hangan's Castle from the play Chushingura (Treasury of the Forty-seven Loyal Retainers) by Katsukawa Shun'ei

Act Four: Enya Hangan's Castle from the play Chushingura (Treasury of the Forty-seven Loyal Retainers)

c. 1795

Color woodblock print; koban

The Actor Segawa Tomisaburo II in an Unidentified Role by Katsukawa Shun'ei

The Actor Segawa Tomisaburo II in an Unidentified Role

c. 1793

Color woodblock print; hosoban; from a multisheet composition (?)

The Actor Yamashita Kinsaku II as the maid Tsumagi in the play "Otokyama O-Edo no Ishizue," performed at the Kiri Theater in the eleventh month, 1794 by Katsukawa Shun'ei

The Actor Yamashita Kinsaku II as the maid Tsumagi in the play "Otokyama O-Edo no Ishizue," performed at the Kiri Theater in the eleventh month, 1794

c. 1794

Color woodblock print; hosoban

Frequently Asked Questions

The Actor Segawa Kikunojo III as the Dragon Maiden Disguised as Osaku in the Play Sayo no Nakayama Hiiki no Tsurigane, Performed at the Nakamura Theater in the Eleventh Month, 1790 was created by Katsukawa Shun'ei (勝川春英) in c. 1790.