Scene from the Drama "Lyric Dance of Shizuka Gozen (Taihei Shizuka Horaku no mai)"

Dated to circa 1711 and formatted as a horizontal o-oban tan-e, this print depicts a scene from the kabuki drama 'Lyric Dance of Shizuka Gozen' (Taihei Shizuka Horaku no mai). Shizuka Gozen was the famous shirabyoshi dancer and consort of the twelfth-century warrior Minamoto no Yoshitsune, and her story was retold repeatedly on the kabuki stage in dance-centered productions. Kiyomasu I's print is a wide-format tableau showing multiple figures in performance, with hand-applied tan pigment filling the costumes and architectural elements. The horizontal o-oban format was favored for theatrical group scenes that required showing several actors and stage furniture in their proper relationship, and it placed special demands on the designer to coordinate composition across an unusually broad sheet. The Art Institute of Chicago holds this print.