Kitano Tsunetomi – The Heroine Umekawa in Meido No Hiyaku

Original woodblock print. The first edition of this design was published in 1923. The current print is from the first edition.

Kitano Tsunetomi (1880 – 1947) was a painter and printmaker who specialized in the genre of beautiful woman (bijinga).

The current print, showing the heroine Umekawa as she appears in the kabuki play Meido No Hiyaku (messenger from hell), is probably his most famous. Umekawa is a courtisan in the play and she is seen here as she is fleeing with her customer and lover Chubei, who shortly before embezzled money to buy her free.

It is a print that has many faces, and that can easily be misunderstood. Firstly, because of Kitano Tsunetomi’s typical style, one could confuse it with a hanging scroll painting, in stead of the woodblock print that it is. Secondly, perhaps more so for audiences from the West, Umekawa might seem to have an almost religous appearance, and not that of a courtisan on the run with a lover who just committed a crime. Finally, even with a typical female appearance and female character, the portrait depicted is that of a man and not of a woman, as the female roles in Kabuki plays were portrayed by men as well.

Image size (excluding margins): 27.2 * 23.4 cm (10.7 * 9.2 in).

The print is in excellent condition.

The pictures shown here are from the print itself.

An overview of the woodblock prints by Kitano Tsunetomi can be found here.

See an overview of Kitano Tsunetomi's woodblock prints