A Wakashu Sanemori (Yaro Sanemori)

Artist Okumura Masanobu 奥村政信 (Japanese, 1686–1764)

Dateabout 1712

MediumWoodblock print; ink on paper; sumizuri-e

Dimensions25.4 x 35.2 cm (10 x 13 7/8 in.)

ClassificationsPrints

Credit LineJohn Chandler Bancroft Collection

Terms

Object number1901.59.2235

DescriptionHorizontal oban (oban yoko-e)
Label TextYaro (rascal, rogue) were chiefly wakashu-gata actors (i.e. impersonators of handsome young rascal dandies). An old actor is here shown in his dressing-room on the second floor of a theater, seated before a mirror-stand and having his hair painted black by a younger wakashu-gata. He is thus a comic misrepresentation of the famous soldier Saito Betto Sanemori (1111-1183 AD) who served under Minamoto Yoshitomo and later under Taira Munemori. Before going into the battle of Shinowara in Kaga, in which he was killed, he dyed his hair so that he would appear to be a young man. In the street below, is another wakashu-gata who has just emerged from a theater and is followed by a boy servant who is carrying a towel and looks back at a young boy who peers at him around the shoji.

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