Girls Entertained by Performers, from the illustrated book Flowers of the Four Seasons

Theatrical performances are paradigms of people watching other people. There is a division of roles as well as a division of space. The actors move about a prescribed area, while the audience remains passively confined to another. This structure is reflected in ukiyo-e prints in which viewers are often physically separated from the objects of their gaze. They look down from balconies, peer through blinds and windows, and peek from behind screens and curtains. In this print, from a book illrstrated by Utamaro, young women, in imitation of courtly customs, watch traveling performers through the bamboo blinds of a folding screen. the unusual side view places us at a point equidistant from the audience and the performers. Since both groups are partially obscured by screens, Utamaro relegates us to the position of an outside observer. A courtesan in an elegant dress stands between the two groups. The cranes and the cloud in the screen behind her complete a circle that connects her with the performers, but the cascading folds of her robe unite with the dress of a seated girl, perhaps indicating a dual role on her part of entertaining and being entertained.