Page 450 - Edo: Art in Japan, 1615–1868

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Katsukawa Shunchó (d. 1821?)
Two Young Men by the Riverside
c. 17805
Hanging scroll; ink and color on silk
99.6x45.7(3974x18)
Itabashi Art Museum, Tokyo

• A male youth dressed in fine long-
sleeved robes, with a long sword tucked
into his sash, approaches a slighter,
older acquaintance enjoying a smoke
by the water's edge. By their hairstyle, 449
dress, and general deportment, both
can be identified as wakashu, elegant
young men who made their living as
kabuki actors or as amorous compan-
ions to older male patrons.
The man squatting by the water's edge
holds a long-stemmed pipe in his right
hand while he raises a spread fan
above his head in what appears to be
a gesture of greeting. Behind the
seated man is a rather posh lacquer
smoking kit.The youth who approaches
him has gentle, effeminate features.
The sword, which he would never use,
is an affectation. As if in some tacit
code of rendezvous etiquette, his fan
remains closed in response to the
other man's open-fan gesture.
The entire scene of young men alone
is effused with subtle and not so sub-
tle homoerotic suggestions. The irises
in the foreground are playful remin-
ders of the age of male innocence: they
are associated with the Boy's Day festi-
val, which is celebrated in the fifth day
of the fifth month of the lunar calen-
dar, or the early summer season —
the setting here. Willow trees also can
be linked to male sexuality, the long
spiky leaves being symbols of the male
component of the "willow and flower"
world of the pleasure quarters.
Although he was a pupil of Katsukawa
Shunsho (1726-1792), Shunchó created
few actor prints and instead produced
pictures of courtesans in the idiom of
the all-influentialTorii Kiyonaga (1752 -
1815). His prints survive in great num-
bers, but paintings securely ascribed
to his hand such as this are extremely
rare. JTC

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