An Actor in the Role of Yaoya Oshichi

Vertical ōban. Dimensions: 10 x 14 ½ in. (25.40 x 36.83 cm)

Artist’s signature: Ichiyūsai Kuniyoshi ga 一勇斎 国芳 画

Artist’s seal: red kiri 桐 leaves

Censors’ seals: Kinugasa, 衣笠, Yoshimura 吉村

Publisher’s seal: Ta 太 in lozenge

Yayoa Oshichi was a sixteen-year-old girl who was burned at the stake in the early Edo period for attempted arson. The previous year, a temple in her neighborhood had burned down in a great fire, and she met and fell in love with a boy who worked at the temple. Thinking that she would be able to meet him again if there was another fire, she attempted to burn the temple down once more. She was executed in 1683. This story inspired many plays, which were very loosely based on the actual events.

Gift of Barry Rosensteel

This print is also held by the Waseda University Tsubouchi Memorial Theatre Museum in Tokyo