Utagawa Kunisada Japanese, 1786-1864 A scene from Sukeroku Yukari no Edo-Zakura, ca. 1855 Nishiki-e (color woodblock print) Oban format, triptych Signed: Toyokuni III Lent by Mr. and Mrs. Richard Guy Wilson Long-lived, successful, and versatile, Kunisada in later life produced theatrical prints which are vigorously awkward and vitally gaudy. This famous Kabuki play depicts the love of the flamboyant but chivalrous commoner Sukeroku for the stupendously impressive courtesan Agemaki. Agemaki however is being annoyed by the attentions of a rich white-bearded old man who happens to have stolen a venerated sword from Sukeroku. Sukeroku and the old man bait and insult each other. Sukeroku even offers him a pipe with his foot! (Elegant pipes had been showered upon Sukeroku by adoring courtesans.) Sukeroku eventually slays the evil old man and escapes arrest by hiding in a water barrel. Kabuki theater is operatic and balletic (as was the real life of the pleasure district). Prints often depict frozen climactic moments in the stage production. Sukeroku turns out to be a true hero who needs the sword to avenge the murder of his father. Agemaki is equally noble, in her imposing way. In Kabuki and in real life, chivalrous commoners were as heroically virtuous as samurai but often came to a sad end because the consequences of getting justice from the aristocratic government might be lethal. In this play the panache of a chivalrous commoner is matched by the beauty and spirit of a very high-class courtesan. The world of these prints-the world of Kabuki and the pleasure district-was an alternative universe where mere commoners and courtesans could create their own non-aristocratic heroism, their own lusty yet poetic art, their own tragi-comic ethic. Of course, it should also be remembered that a courtesan's official length of stay in a brothel was commonly known as "ten years of misery."