Bandō Mitsugorō III as Daihanji Kiyozumi and Arashi Koroku IV as Koganosuke

Shunkōsai Hokushū 春好斎北洲 Japanese

Not on view

The Kabuki play Mount Imo and Mount Se: An Exemplary Tale of Womanly Virtue (Imoseyama onna teikin), originally based on a puppet play, is set in ancient Japan when the Soga clan served as regents to the emperor. Two children, Hinadori and Koganosuke, of rival court families, are held hostage under orders from the tyrant Soga no Iruka to ensure their families do not revolt. The children fall in love, but rather than create conflicts for their families they each vow to die by suicide. When the parents learn of their plans, they resolve to cooperate to overthrow Iruka. Here Koganosuke and his father Kiyozumi are shown; a companion sheet on the left would have shown Hinadori and her mother Sadaka.

Bandō Mitsugorō III as Daihanji Kiyozumi and Arashi Koroku IV as Koganosuke, Shunkōsai Hokushū 春好斎北洲 (Japanese, active 1808–32), Right sheet of a diptych of woodblock prints (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper; vertical ōban, Japan

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