Osono, the Divorced Wife of the Ronin's Weapon Supplier

Osono, the Divorced Wife of the Ronin's Weapon Supplier is a yakusha-e print by Utagawa Kunisada built around a single dramatic female role from the cycle of plays associated with the Chushingura (Treasury of Loyal Retainers) world and its many spin-offs. Osono is a recurring sewamono character whose private grief, divorce, and continuing loyalty to a husband ensnared in the Ronin's vendetta gave kabuki playwrights and onnagata actors rich emotional material to exploit. Kunisada, the dominant Edo ukiyo-e designer of his generation, gives the figure the elongated face, alert glance, and carefully arranged hair of his mature bijin / onnagata manner; her kosode is rendered with the dense patterning that allowed Kunisada to demonstrate the woodblock medium's full graphic range. The print is part of the larger network of Kunisada designs that responded to ongoing kabuki productions and the public appetite for memorable supporting roles. The impression is held in the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria collection and indexed through ukiyo-e.org. Whether issued as part of a sub-series or as an independent sheet, the design exemplifies how Kunisada and his publishers fed the Edo print market with characters whose stories audiences already knew intimately. Source: ukiyo-e.org / Art Gallery of Greater Victoria (https://ukiyo-e.org/image/aggv/gscn0016).