- XVIII

P-0193

Unità di misura: cm; Altezza: 99.8; Larghezza: 33; Varie: Altezza montatura: 179.2 cm
Larghezza montatura: 44.1 cm

inchiostro, colori e oro su seta

La Rinascita della Pittura Giapponese. Vent'anni di restauri al Museo Chiossone di Genova - Genova, Museo d'Arte Orientale Edoardo Chiossone - 28/02 - 29/06 2014

Originating from Sado Island (present-day Niigata Prefecture), where it is still performed today, harugoma is a ceremonial dance that was once performed throughout Japan at the beginning of spring in Shōgatsu, the first month of the lunar calendar, to bring good luck to the year. The performers were kadozukegeijin, wandering acrobats who went from house to house and, after pronouncing a good wish, sang and danced in front of the main entrance, sometimes wearing a costume with a horse-head mask, or carrying a stick with a small sculpture on the top depicting a horse's head with a bridle. This dance passed from the repertoire of street performers to that of Kabuki theater, where it began to be performed during the Genroku period (1688-1704). November 1782 was the peak of the theatrical popularity of harugoma, with the first performance of the play "Mutsumashi tsuki no tetori", which attracted a large audience also in Yoshiwara and which, due to its success, was probably repeated until the following year. These circumstances lead us to think that Shunshō painted the work in conjunction with the popularity of harugoma dance between 1782 and 1783. Painting with new Yamato hyōgu silk mount: ichimonji and fūtai in white hiraori embroidered in polychrome silk and gold with swirls and flowers; chūberi in two-tone hazelnut and green donsu with a lightning bolt motif; ivory-colored jōge; jikushu in wood and semi-gloss reddish-brown lacquer. The work depicts a young woman performing the harugoma, a ceremonial dance that used to be held in early spring in Shōgatsu. The figure is in three-quarter view and stands on the tip of her left foot, bending her right leg backwards. The girl turns her head to look at the stick, topped by a small sculpture of an equine protome, which she holds in her right hand. With her left hand, instead, she moves the scarlet reins that she has placed behind her neck. The young woman wears a kimono with large, diagonal light blue and gray stripes, with floating cherry blossoms. The long sleeves are trimmed at the wrists with gray, red, and green ribbons. A brown handkerchief covers her head and is tied under her chin. The dress is closed by a black velvet obi embroidered with green spirals embellished with gold and amaranth. On the left side of the painting, the trunk of a plum tree emerges, with branches dotted with buds and a few open flowers.