当世恋歌八契　お七と吉三郎|The Lovers Oshichi and Kichisaburo

Kitagawa Utamaro

ca. 1800 · Woodblock print; ink and color on paper · Asian Art

The lurid story of this ill-fated pair was made into a popular Kabuki drama. Oshichi, the daughter of a greengrocer, fell in love with Kichisaburo when she was evacuated to a temple where he was a boy servant during the great 1683 fire in Edo. After returning home she was unable to see him again. Insane with longing, she deliberately set fire to her house and was later tried and executed for arson.

Artist

Kitagawa Utamaro

Date

ca. 1800

Medium

Woodblock print; ink and color on paper

Culture

Japan

Department

Asian Art

Credit line

Rogers Fund, 1922