Segawa Kikunojo as the Demon Ibaragi, from the play: The Bridge of Returning

Artist Utagawa Kunisada (Toyokuni III) (Japanese, 1786–1864)

Datecommissioned for New Year 1823, Year of the Ram

MediumColor woodblock print

Dimensions8 7/16 × 7 5/16 inches (21.4 × 18.6 cm)

ClassificationsPrints

Credit LineGift of Joanna Haab Schoff, Class of 1955

Terms

Surimono
Color woodblock print
Actors
Kabuki
Poetry
Demons
Japanese

Object number2011.017.032

Label CopyIkanobori Itome no yori no Modoribashi Kirete Kitano no Miyani ochikeri How it climbs! The kite Its string drawn towards The “Bridge of Returning” Was cut and came to fall In the Shrine of Kitano —Roppo ¯en Kozuchi This print is the top part of a vertical diptych, the lower half of which depicts Ichikawa Danju-ro-VII as Watanabe Tsuna, standing on the roof of the Kitano Shrine. Here, Segawa Kikunojo-as the beautiful woman/demonic force, rises into the sky on a thundercloud, holding a fierce demon mask, wonderfully printed with gleaming metallic pigments for its eyes. The accompanying poem is full of puns, comparing the fate of a kite to that of Tsuna, who had encountered a beautiful woman walking alone one night, and sought to protect her. Seeing her true reflection in the water as he crosses Modoribashi Bridge, however, he realizes she is a demon in disguise, and after some kabuki-style repartee, grapples with it, cutting off its arm. In the traditional version of the story, the demon later returns in disguise as Tsuna’s childhood nurse, to gain entrance to his home and retrieve the severed arm, flying off into the sky with it. The demon’s flight suggests kites, often decorated with supernatural images, and customarily flown on the first days of the New Year. The traditional term for kite, ikanobori, is homophonous with “How it climbs!” thus referencing the shocking upward movement of the demon in the story. Modoribashi, the name of a bridge, as well as of the kabuki play based on this story, is literally “the bridge of returning,” but hints at Tsuna’s guiding the woman home, while hashi has the additional meanings of an edge, extremity or side.

Collections