The Lovers Miura-ya Komurasaki and Shirai Gonpachi.

probably 1797
Not on view
Tragic love stories taken from real life and dramatized were a staple of stage and print; the darkly romantic combination of desire and death was hugely popular in the eighteenth century. Hirai Gompachi was a warrior of the Tottori fief in western Japan who fled to Edo after committing a murder. He was apprehended and sentenced to death in 1679. His distraught lover, the courtesan Komurasaki, committed suicide at his grave.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • 実競色乃美名家見 三浦屋小紫 白井権八
  • Title: The Lovers Miura-ya Komurasaki and Shirai Gonpachi.
  • Artist: Kitagawa Utamaro (Japanese, ca. 1754–1806)
  • Period: Edo period (1615–1868)
  • Date: probably 1797
  • Culture: Japan
  • Medium: Woodblock print; ink and color on paper
  • Dimensions: 15 x 9 15/32 in. (38.1 x 24.1 cm)
  • Classification: Prints
  • Credit Line: Rogers Fund, 1914
  • Object Number: JP153
  • Curatorial Department: Asian Art

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Kitagawa Utamaro - The Lovers Miura-ya Komurasaki and Shirai Gonpachi. - Japan - Edo period (1615–1868) - The Metropolitan Museum of Art