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)
