The Floating World Takes Shape

Torii Kiyonobu I (attributed)

Kabuki Actor

c. 1708

Woodblock print; ink and color on paper, 55.2 × 29.2 cm. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

A dancing actor, probably in a female role, whirls in a robe of swirling patterns and flowers.

• Theater advertising was the studio's trade: kabuki posters and signboards.
• The color was brushed on by hand over a sheet printed in black.
• Thick, rounded outlines and flat pattern carry well from far off, a signboard painter's habit.

Torii

The family school of designers founded by Kiyonobu I.

I, II, V after a name

Generation numbers: stage and studio names passed from holder to holder, so Kiyonobu I is the first to use the name and Danjūrō V the fifth.

Image: The Met Open Access · Public domain (Met Open Access)