Kanawa from the series One Hundred Prints of Noh

Object Details

• Artist

  Tsukioka Kogyo 月岡耕漁 (1869-1927)

• Publisher

  Matsuki Heikichi 松木平吉

• Label

  Kanawa, the “iron crown,” is one of many noh plays featuring the vengeful spirit of a woman who was mistreated in her life. The play tells the story of a woman who describes her unforgiving feelings toward her former husband, who divorced her. She discloses how her love for her husband grows each day “like clothes I cannot shed,” and her deepest wish is for the deities to punish him. Eventually, her wish to become a demon and haunt her former husband is granted. She learns she is to don a red kimono and red makeup along with an iron crown with three candles. Kōgyo captures the moment the demon curses her former husband and promises to make those who harmed her suffer.

• Provenance

  To ?

  David Wallace, Washington, DC [1]

  To 1971

  Embassy of Japan, Washington DC, gift of David Wallace, Washington, DC [2]

  From 1971

  Freer Gallery of Art, gift of the Embassy of Japan, Washington, DC [3]

  Notes:

  [1] The Embassy of Japan received a gift from David Wallace of Washington, DC at an unknown date. In 1971, the Embassy of Japan gave print to the Study Collection of the Freer Gallery of Art. See letter dated February 11, 1971 from the Freer Gallery to Mr. David Wallace, copy in object file, Collections Management Office.

  [2] See note 1.

  [3] See note 1.

• Collection

  Freer Study Collection

• Exhibition History

  Staging the Supernatural: Ghosts and the Theater in Japanese Prints (March 23 to October 6, 2024)

• Previous custodian or owner

  David Wallace

  Embassy of Japan

• Origin

  Japan

• Credit Line

  Gift of the Embassy of Japan, Washington, D.C.

• Type

  Print

• Restrictions and Rights

  Usage Conditions Apply

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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1920s, 1910s

• Name

  Wallace, David, Embassy of Japan

• Place

  Japan

• Topic

  Theater, Art, Actors and actresses, Noh, Japanese Art, Taisho era (1912 - 1926)

• Culture

  Japanese

• Object Type

  Prints