LONDON.- A wonderful image by the enigmatic print-maker Toshusai Sharaku (fl.circa 1794-1795) depicting a popular Japanese kabuki actor in one of the female roles he was famous for heads
Bonhams sale of Japanese Art on November 6 during Asian Art Week in London.
Estimated to sell for 70,000 to 80,000 the print shows the actor Segawa Tomisaburo II in the role of Yadorigi, the wife of Ogishi Kurando, in the play Hana-ayame Bunroku Soga (The Iris Soga [brothers] Story of the Bunroku Period), performed at the Miyako Theatre in May 1794, published by Tsutaya Juzaburo.
Comparable versions of this image are in the Tokyo National Museum: British Museum; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Muses Royaux d'Art et d'Histoire, Bruxelles; Art Institute of Chicago; Staatliches Museum fur Volkerkunde, Munich; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Nihon Kikin, Tokyo and the Ota Memorial Museum, Tokyo.
Continuing the female bias among the top items of this sale is an extremely unusual set of armour for a female warrior of the late Edo Period, 19th century. The armour includes a very heavy eight-plate low rounded helmet in russet iron, and uses a combination of copper, iron, and mixed iron and leather plates and black lacquer joined by mail to protect the human body inside. It is estimated to sell for 30,000 to 40,000.
When one says the word samurai, most imagine an armoured man fiercely wielding a katana (a fighting sword). Nevertheless, women samurai were a small but very important element among the Japanese upper class samurai. Some of them like Empress Jingu, Nakano Takeko, Hojo Masako and Tomoe Gozen had a great impact on Japanese history. A quote about the last from the epic account of the Genpei War (1180–1185) states: “Tomoe was especially beautiful, with white skin, long hair, and charming features. She was also a remarkably strong archer, and as a swordswoman she was a warrior worth a thousand, ready to confront a demon or a god, mounted or on foot. She handled unbroken horses with superb skill; she rode unscathed down perilous descents. Whenever a battle was imminent, Yoshinaka sent her out as his first captain, equipped with strong armour, an oversized sword, and a mighty bow; and she performed more deeds of valour than any of his other warriors.”
