Beauties and Actors

Katsukawa Shunshō

Danjūrō V as a Skeleton and Iwai Hanshirō IV as the Cherry Princess

c. 1783

Color woodblock print (diptych), each sheet about 32.9 × 15 cm. The Art Institute of Chicago

As a skeleton, a disgraced monk's ghost closes in on the princess he loved, who shrinks away.

• In the play he gave up his vows for her, was cast out and died poor.
• His stage costume was black, with bones painted on.
• The crest on his arm dates the scene to the Nakamura Theater, 1783.

Image: Art Institute of Chicago open access · CC0