Lent by Ronin Gallery, New York, New York

Based on an actual event which inspired Kabuki plays, the print refers to the elopement and double suicide of two lovers, a common practice in both life and art. Obi-ya Choemon, a man of forty, is madly in love with Ohan, a girl of fourteen who returns his love. Because of opposition, they eventually decide to commit suicide. The penalty for illicit love was especially severe if there was a difference in rank. The male hero is played as a standard type of patient, suffering male, in contrast to deliberately macho or swaggering styles of male acting. Ordinary housewives as well as Kabuki fans would weep over such sad tales, while at the same time more or less accepting the hierarchical code which caused the tragedy.