Page 419 - Edo: Art in Japan, 1615–1868

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232 • A single dancer delicately balances the shifting weight. Within the
Dancers a fan against an undiluted golden glamorous folds of the robes, a care-
Late 16203-16305 ground on each of the six panels of fully thought out figurai structure
Six-panel screen; ink, color, and this small folding screen. The figures can be detected.
may represent performers for women's
gold on paper The large ten-ribbed folding fans that
7
x
63.3 x 240 (24 /s x 94 /2) kabuki as described in the previous each performer holds are of a variety
Kyoto City entry, or simply courtesans doing fan specifically designed for dance. The
Important Cultural Property dances in a bordello. The absence adroit manipulation of a fan marked
of a setting makes it impossible to say. a talented dancer, who used it to sug-
The meticulously delineated robes gest an umbrella, falling flower petals,
and the frozen, highly formalized a sliding door, or, shut, even a rope
poses suggest a decorative intention, to save a drowning person.
but the figures are not mere manne-
quins. In each case the artist experi- The finely detailed flower-and-bird
mented with a subtle variation of the images on the fans suggest a painter
physical equilibrium sought by a live trained in traditional Kano academic
dancer. The extended hands and the modes. This screen was probably
bending or twisting of the upper torso one of a pair. JTC
create a temporary imbalance, but
the bend of the legs compensates for