A Woman Holding a Fan Performing a Dance

Entry

The actor Segawa - his name written here as Sengawa or Ogigawa - Kikunojo III performing the sanbaso dance, wearing a tall cap with a red disc on the front and holding a fan and a bell-tree, suzu.

The Auspicious Soga Which Are Being Sold Everywhere - The First - The Modern Sanbasõ Dance by Segawa Kikunojõ Yomo urihajime kotobuki Soga - daiichibanme - Irnayõ shiki sanbasõ Sengawa Kikunojõ.

The design imitates the usual layout of theatre programmes, with the title of the play written in what is known as 'Edo typeface', Edomoji, with the leading actor's crest, mon, in the top centre, and the various performers listed at right. The design was probably inspired by the dances during the opening performances in XI/1796, of which the sanbaso was a regular feature, although Kikunojo's role is not specifically listed in Kabuki nenpyo.

Segawa Kikunojo III (1751-1810) acted under this name from 1774 to 1801, when he took the name Segawa Roko III, and later in 1807, that of Segawa Senjo.

The print seems to have been designed by the last poet, who signed bottom left 'Handmade by Kanemori'. The name and address of Shuchodo appear as the publisher, hanmoto. This is actually very rare, but was probably done to be in keeping with the type of print suggested here.

The emblem of the Yomogawa poetry club appears on the fan. The numerals for the long months, 1, 3, 5, 8, 10, 11 and 12, and those of the short months, 2, 4, 6, 7, intercalary 7 and 9, for 1797, are inscribed on the dancer's kimono. Moreover, an inscription to the left of the figure reads: 'The New Snake Year in the theatres when all remains the same', Kawaranu mi no haru za.

Three poems by Yomo no Utagaki [Magao, 1753-1829, Shikatsube Magao, pupil of Yomo Akara. Used the name 'Yomo' from 1796 when he became a judge of the Yomogawa. Alternative name Kyokado];² Torikane, 'changed his name to', aratame Ichiyuken Mimine [later Haginoya II, a judge of the Honchoren],³ and Eisenan Kanemori. The poem by Magao has the heading 'Long poem', Nagauta; the poem by Mimine, Shamisen, and the poem by Kanemori, 'Accompaniment', Hayashikata.

The poem by Magao reads:
Piling up sake cups as New Year's visitors arrived, sounded like a concert of drums at the Yomo Waterfall.

Mimine's poem has a vague allusion to the dance:
The morning is filled with the cries of chickens
performing their sanbaso dance - Spring is coming and a New Year opens.

Issued by the Yomogawa
Signed: tezukurisha Kanemori nobeta (handmade by Kanemori)
Produced by the Shuchõdõ Studio, seal: the publisher, hanmoto, Shuchõdõ of lzumibashi(?) ?chõ