Ichieisai Yoshitsuya I (?) Japanese, 1822-1866 Scene from a Kabuki Play, ca. 1866? Published by Oshimaya Sayemon (?) With censor's aratame seal incorporated with date seal Nishki-e (color woodblock print) Oban format Museum Collection There were two Yoshitsuyas. Yoshitsuya I was, like Yoshitoshi, the pupil of the strenuously and sometimes militantly imaginative Kuniyoshi. In this richly enigmatic print, a triumphant and perhaps supernatural being bestrides a fallen male warrior, whose dress and contorted posture make him look like an anxious spider. Spider-spirits are a part of Japanese legend and are usually evil. Perhaps related to the Shinto aspect of Japan, spirits saturate Japanese culture, a transitional dimension between the human and the natural worlds, or between the human and heavenly worlds. Japanese prints fuse design and meaning. In the work of Kuniyoshi and his students, this exuberant fusion of spiraling patterns may result in a compacted magic and beauty. The ambiguity of gender in this print is not unheard of on the Kabuki stage or in Japanese prints. Such ambiguity sustains the theme of this exhibition. The hand gesture of the standing figure is a mudra signifying a magical transformation.