- Provenance
- Provenance research underway.
- Label
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Nakamura Utaemon III plays the commoner Konobei as the onnagata Nakamura Matsue III (Tomijuro II) performs a dance in the style of a shirabyoshi, a female performer who wears male courtiers' robes. Matsue III's poem on the right notes that this is a death-anniversary performance to honor Nakamura Matsue I (1742-1786):
Though it is presumptuous of me,
I offer this death-anniversary performance
as a tribute to my ancestor:
In memory of the deceased,
the sounds of autumn sough
through pines on the beach.
Utaemon's poem on the left alludes to paper robes worn in kabuki plays by lovers reduced to poverty:
The more they age
the more auspicious-
robes of paper.
Translation of poems by John T. Carpenter
- Published References
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- Ann Yonemura, et al. Masterful Illusions: Japanese Prints from the Anne van Biema Collection. Seattle and Washington. cat. 63, pp. 178-179.
- Collection Area(s)
- Japanese Art
- Web Resources
- Google Cultural Institute
- SI Usage Statement
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Usage Conditions Apply
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CC0 - Creative Commons (CC0 1.0)
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Usage Conditions Apply
There are restrictions for re-using this image. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page.
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International Image Interoperability Framework
FS-7447_28