Osome
- Date:
- 1864, 7th lunar month
- Medium:
- Woodblock print (nishiki-e), ink and color on paper
- Format:
- Oban
- Dimensions:
- 35.7 × 24.1 cm
- Source:
- Minneapolis Institute of Art
Description
A bijin portrait of a woman named Osome, produced in the seventh lunar month of 1864 alongside companion prints including "Oroku" and "Takaragi." Osome was a famous tragic heroine of popular fiction, a merchant's daughter whose doomed love affair had been immortalized on the kabuki stage, making her name immediately resonant to Kyosai's audience. The nishiki-e technique — multiple woodblocks achieving complex, lustrous color — is deployed with the finesse Kyosai had absorbed from years studying the great ukiyo-e masters.
More Prints by Kawanabe Kyosai
Tenpôzan in Osaka: Viewing Children's Sumo (Naniwa Tenpôzan kodomo sumô shôran), from the series Scenes of Famous Places along the Tôkaidô Road (Tôkaidô meisho fûkei), also known as the Processional Tôkaidô (Gyôretsu Tôkaidô), here called Tôkaidô
1863
Woodblock print
Kyosai, Royal Academy, London, FREE DOMESTIC SHIPPING
2022
Original Museum Lithographic Exhibition Poster
from the series One Hundred Pictures by Kyôsai (Kyôsai hyakuzu)
Woodblock print
Gontazaka, from the series Scenes of Famous Places along the Tôkaidô Road (Tôkaidô meisho fûkei), also known as the Processional Tôkaidô (Gyôretsu Tôkaidô), here called Tôkaidô meisho no uchi
Woodblock print
More Kabuki Prints
Kabuki Theater
歌舞伎
Woodblock print
Onoe Shoroku II as the tattooed villain Danshichi
1955
Woodblock print
View of Kabuki Theater from Matsuya (Ginza Matsuya yori Kabukiza), no. 3 from the series "Pictures of Ginza, First Series (Gashu Ginza dai isshu)"
1928
Color lithograph
Distant View of Mitsukoshi Movie Theater in Shinjuku from the Sixth Floor of Hoteiya (Hoteiya rokkai kara Shinjuku Mitsukoshi Musashi no kan enbo zu), no. 1 from the series "Scenery of Shinjuku (Gashu Shinjuku fukei)"
1930
Color lithograph
Featured in Collections
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
Frequently Asked Questions
Osome was created by Kawanabe Kyosai (河鍋暁斎) in 1864, 7th lunar month.
Osome depicts kabuki, bijin-ga, and portraits.
Osome measures 35.7 × 24.1 cm (Oban format).