Untitled

Tōshūsai Sharaku

ca. 1794 · Woodblock print; ink and color on paper · Asian Art

This portrait features another actor impersonating a female character, in this case an oiran, or high-ranking courtesan, in the Yoshiwara pleasure quarters of Edo. But there is another layer to this act: the character portrayed, Kewaizaka no Shosho, is here pretending to be another character in the play, Shinobu. Kewaizaka affects the mannerisms of this haughty temptress with the lewd gesture of extruding her fingers from a fold of her kimono. The long thin pipe in her hand punctuates this gesture.

Artist

Tōshūsai Sharaku

Date

ca. 1794

Medium

Woodblock print; ink and color on paper

Culture

Japan

Department

Asian Art

Credit line

Rogers Fund, 1914