Ukiyo-e Gallery
Japanese woodblock prints related to the visual and cultural histories of restraint, captivity, punishment, eroticism, theatre, and kinbaku.
13 published prints
Kabuki Actors in a Snow Scene: A Bound Woman and Her Companion
Two kabuki actors are shown in close-up against a snowy setting. The foreground figure, an onnagata portraying a woman, bends forward with a thick yellow rope wrapped horizontally around the upper torso and arms.…
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Actors in the Torture Scene from Banshū Sarayashiki
The triptych represents the notorious torture scene from the kabuki adaptation of the Okiku well legend. Okiku is suspended by ropes across the mouth of a well at the right while Asayama Tetsuzan, holding…
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Chūnagon Asatada: Urazato
The kabuki actor Bandō Shūka I appears as the courtesan Urazato during the snow-torment episode from the Urazato and Tokijirō narrative. She sits in a snowy landscape with a thick rope passing around her…
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Rescuing a Courtesan
A dramatic kabuki rescue unfolds at night in falling snow. On the right, a courtesan kneels or collapses on a snow-covered roof or raised platform with a thick rope passing around her upper torso…
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The Crucifixion of Asakura Tōgo
The print represents a theatrical execution-ground scene centered on Asakura Tōgo, who is bound upright to a wooden post with his arms extended. Below him, the villain Gen Chōkichi attacks or restrains the monk…
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Struggle in the Snow
Two kabuki actors portraying armed men confront one another in deep snow outside a castle. The standing figure at left grips a drawn or partly drawn sword while raising one leg, around whose ankle…
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Kumagaya Tōjūrō
The print depicts Kumagaya Tōjūrō kneeling on stony ground beside a wooden well or water structure. His wrists are tied behind his back, a rope encircles his torso, and a long coil falls across…
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Inada Kyūzō Shinsuke Murders a Kitchen Maid Suspended from a Rope
A woman identified in modern catalogs as a kitchen maid hangs upside down from a ceiling rope while Inada Kyūzō Shinsuke cuts or stabs her with a sword. Her ankles are tied together above…
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Tokyo Nichinichi Shimbun, No. 900
A kneeling woman is confronted by a standing man who bends over her, seizes or controls her long hair, and places a sword or sword-like weapon across the front of her neck. Her upper…
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A Wife Who Serves Her Husband Well and a Wife Who Defies Her Husband
The sheet contrasts two models of marital behavior. In the upper scene, a wife kneels politely before her seated husband and offers him a cup while he pauses over an open book. White-robed personifications…
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The Lonely House on Adachi Moor in Northern Japan
Inside a dilapidated rural house, a heavily pregnant woman hangs upside down from the rafters while an emaciated old woman crouches below sharpening a knife. The suspended victim's ankles are tied together above her…
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Muraoka of the Konoe Clan Bound with Rope
The print portrays Muraoka, the senior lady-in-waiting of the Konoe household, after her arrest during the Ansei Purge. Her arms are drawn behind her body and her torso is encircled by rope. Yoshitoshi presents…
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Onoe Kikugorō V as Okiku
Onoe Kikugorō V appears in the female role of Okiku, the persecuted servant of the Sarayashiki legend. A thick rope passes around her upper arms and torso, holding her arms behind her body. Her…
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