Iwai Kumesaburo III as Shiroki-ya Okoma (三代目岩井粂三郎 城木屋お駒)

In this print by prolific 19th century printmaker Utagawa Kunisada(歌川国貞) a young woman gives the viewer a flirtatious look while moving her arm. Her name is Okoma, from the play “Myoto Musubi Musume Hyobanki(恋夫帯娘評判記)”. In this play her widowed mother wishes to marry Okoma to a wealthy older man but she falls for his young clerk instead. Contemporary Japanese artists are still being influenced by Japanese Theatre: Morimura Yasumasa(森村泰昌) is a conceptual photographer who breaks down the barriers between male and female. A parallel can be established between this print and the artist’s 1996 photo “Self-portrait (Actress): After Hara Setsuko(原節子)” where Morimura plays at being the famous mid-century Japanese cinema actor.