Onoe Shōroku I as the Ghost of the Shirabyōshi Hanako Standing over Osagawa Shichizō II as Tsumagi, Maid Servant to Sakurahime, in Uruō-ōgi Sumizome no Sakura

Designed by Utagawa Toyokuni in 1805, this Edo [ukiyo-e](/glossary/ukiyo-e) print stages a charged supernatural moment from the kabuki play "Uruo-ogi Sumizome no [Sakura](/glossary/sakura)." Onoe Shoroku I appears as the ghost of the shirabyoshi dancer Hanako, looming over Osagawa Shichizo II in the role of Tsumagi, a maid servant to the princess Sakurahime. The shirabyoshi were female entertainers from the medieval period whose dances and lyrics were repeatedly mined by kabuki, and Hanako's ghost belongs to the dense web of vengeful female spirits that Edo audiences loved to see brought to the stage.