「おはや　花桐四声」(三代目豊松)|The Onnagata Actor Hanagiri Toyomatsu (Shisei) III as Ohaya

Ryūkōsai Jokei 流光斎如圭

1793 · Woodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper; vertical hosoban · Asian Art

The actor Toyomatsu III (1743–1796) earned renown in Osaka and Kyoto as an onnagata (male actor of women’s roles). Here he is shown in a performance late in his career of the courtesan Ohaya in the play Hirai Gonpachi’s Visits to Yoshiwara). Hirai Gonpachi was a rōnin (masterless samurai) of the Tottori fief in western Japan who fled to Edo after committing a murder, and had ill-fated affairs in the Yoshiwara licensed quarters.

Artist

Ryūkōsai Jokei 流光斎如圭

Date

1793

Medium

Woodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper; vertical hosoban

Culture

Japan

Department

Asian Art

Credit line

Rogers Fund, 1922