Iwai Kumesaburo II as the Courtesan Takao in Banzei Okuni Kabuki

This uchiwa-e (fan print) of about 1827 by Utagawa Kunisada portrays the actor Iwai Kumesaburo II in the onnagata (female-role) part of the courtesan Takao in "Banzei Okuni Kabuki." The print is held in the Art Institute of Chicago. Uchiwa-e were prints designed in the rounded fan shape, intended to be cut out and mounted on bamboo ribs to make functioning rigid fans, though many were preserved uncut as collectible images. The fan format imposed a distinctive curved composition that Kunisada and his Utagawa-school colleagues exploited with skill. The role of the courtesan Takao was a celebrated onnagata vehicle, drawing on the historical and legendary courtesan Takao Dayu of the Yoshiwara pleasure district. Iwai Kumesaburo II (later Iwai Hanshiro VI, 1799-1836) was one of the principal onnagata of the late Bunka and Bunsei periods, prized for his beauty and his refined depiction of female roles. The 1827 dating places the print in Kunisada's pre-Toyokuni III period; he signed it as Kunisada. Stylistically, the print would show the elegant lines, restrained color, and careful textile detail of his mature mid-1820s manner. As an uchiwa-e it represents one of the more ephemeral formats Kunisada served, designed for everyday summer use yet executed with the same care as larger oban prints. The Art Institute of Chicago's holding preserves the fan-shape image intact and uncut.