The Onnagata Actor Hanagiri Toyomatsu (Shisei) III as Ohaya

Ryūkōsai Jokei 流光斎如圭 Japanese

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The actor Toyomatsu III (1743–1796) earned renown in Osaka and Kyoto as an onnagata (male actor of women’s roles). Here he is shown in a performance late in his career of the courtesan Ohaya in the play Hirai Gonpachi’s Visits to Yoshiwara). Hirai Gonpachi was a rōnin (masterless samurai) of the Tottori fief in western Japan who fled to Edo after committing a murder, and had ill-fated affairs in the Yoshiwara licensed quarters.

The Onnagata Actor Hanagiri Toyomatsu (Shisei) III as Ohaya, Ryūkōsai Jokei 流光斎如圭 (Japanese, active 1777–1809), Woodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper; vertical hosoban, Japan

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