Onoe Kikugorō III as Oiwa 「尾上菊五郎のおいわ」

Object Details

• Artist

  Shunkosai Hokushu 春好斎北洲 (fl. ca. 1802-1832)

• Block carver

  Kasuke Horiko (active 19th century)

• Edition/State

  probably second state

• Label

  The first performance of the play Ghost Story of Yotsuya on the Tōkaidō (Tōkaidō Yotsuya kaidan) in Edo in the summer of 1825 caused such a sensation that, just a few months later, the play was already being performed on the other side of the country in Osaka. This print commemorates the Osaka performance and is inscribed with text written by the actor playing the ghost woman Oiwa, Onoe Kikugorō III (1784–1849). First, he acknowledges that his father had pioneered ghost roles:

  The technique of playing ghosts, developed

  by my father six years ago, has been well

  received, and despite it being spring and past

  the appropriate season, it is difficult to refuse

  the many people who continue to request it.

  This is followed by a poem reassuring the audience that the terrifying specter of Oiwa will vanish as soon as the play finishes:

  It doesn’t stay, just melts away, fortunately: spring snow.

  (Translation by Satoko Shimazaki)

• Collection

  National Museum of Asian Art Collection

• Exhibition History

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

• Origin

  Japan

• Credit Line

  The Pearl and Seymour Moskowitz Collection

• Type

  Print

• Restrictions and Rights

  Usage Conditions Apply

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• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1700s, 1710s, 1720s, 1770s, 1780s, 1790s, 1730s, 1740s, 1750s, 1760s, 1800s, 1810s, 1820s, 1830s, 1610s, 1650s, 1640s, 1630s, 1620s, 1690s, 1840s, 1680s, 1850s, 1670s, 1860s, 1660s

• Name

  Horiko, Kasuke, Shunkosai, Hokushu

• Place

  Japan

• Topic

  Theater, Oiwa, Art, Actors and actresses, Ghost, Edo period, Japan, (1600 - 1868), Japanese Art, The Pearl and Seymour Moskowitz Collection

• Culture

  Japanese

• Object Type

  Prints