The actor Segawa Kikunojo V as Ayame no Mae

This is the center sheet of a shikishiban triptych surimono of about 1820 by Utagawa Kunisada, depicting the actor Segawa Kikunojo V as Ayame no Mae, the court lady from the legend of Minamoto no Yorimasa and the nue. The sheet is held in the Art Institute of Chicago, where it sits between the companion images of Bando Mitsugoro III as Yorimasa (right) and Ichikawa Danjuro VII as I no Hayata (left). In the legend recorded in the Heike Monogatari and dramatized in kabuki, Ayame no Mae was the most beautiful of three hundred court ladies whom Emperor Konoe summoned, and Yorimasa was rewarded with her after slaying the nue. Segawa Kikunojo V (1802-1832), one of the great onnagata of the early 1820s, brought elegance and refinement to the role. Surimono were privately commissioned, and the depiction of a young onnagata as a celebrated literary heroine was a typical sophisticated marriage of contemporary star and classical reference. Kunisada's design dwells on the elegance of female-role costume and gesture, with the long flowing kimono, elaborate hair ornaments, and demure pose for which Segawa Kikunojo V was admired. The surimono format would have allowed luxury printing effects: metallic and pearlescent pigments to suggest the wealth of the court lady's robes, and embossing to model the white skin of her hands and face. The Art Institute of Chicago's preservation of all three sheets makes the set unusually complete.