1816, Utagawa Kunisada, Bandō Mitsugorō III as the Maiden of Dōjōji -- National Museum of Asian Art (Washington)
From the museum label: The story of the Dōjōji was well established as a noh play (see works in the previous gallery) before its first adaptation for the kabuki theater in 1753. The kabuki play belongs to the stylized dance transformation genre, hengemono, where the same actor performs multiple roles, changing between them during complex choreography. Here, a young female pilgrim transforms into a demonic serpent woman that had killed a young monk by burning him alive inside a bronze bell at the temple--named the Dōjōji--many years earlier.
1816, Utagawa Kunisada, Bandō Mitsugorō III as the Maiden of Dōjōji -- National Museum of Asian Art (Washington)
From the museum label: The story of the Dōjōji was well established as a noh play (see works in the previous gallery) before its first adaptation for the kabuki theater in 1753. The kabuki play belongs to the stylized dance transformation genre, hengemono, where the same actor performs multiple roles, changing between them during complex choreography. Here, a young female pilgrim transforms into a demonic serpent woman that had killed a young monk by burning him alive inside a bronze bell at the temple--named the Dōjōji--many years earlier.