Yamato-ya Iwai Hanshiro IV as Kikusui

Catalog note / 解説

Utagawa Toyokuni followed Torii Kiyonaga as the most prominent Kabuki artist in the late 1700s and early 1800s, and the Utagawa style came to dominate the theatrical print world from his time onward. The character featured here is Kikusui, the wife of the renowned warrior Kusunoki Masashige. When her husband dies at the hands of enemy forces, she physically stops her despairing son from killing himself by blocking his attempts with a halberd, telling him that they both must live on in grief rather than commit suicide. Her black mourning veil, somber attire, and grave expression suggest that she is doing just that in this image. This print comes from the series Images of Actors Onstage, as i…